Stay Determined
by pikagammerplus
Summary: 10 year old Ruby Rose is about to start her uncle Qrow's final test. She must go up Mount Ebott and come back with a rare plant called the Dust Daisy. If she completes this final test she will be able to start her personal training as a huntress. The only problem is that Qrow's final test will lead Ruby to something she never expected. (Made for fans of Undertale and RWBY)
1. The Fall of a Flower (Prolog)

**Hello and Welcome to an idea I had after playing Undertale this Summer, What would happen in the story of Undertale if Ruby from RWBY fell into the Underground instead of Frisk?** **And this chapter is the sort of prologue of that idea.**

 **Now to get some important things out of the way: 1st I don't own either RWBY or Undertale. 2nd This story is specifically for people who know ALL of Undertale's lore (And a bit of RWBY's lore will be touched on but just read the wiki entry on the characters and topics I mention and you'll probably be good) so if you haven't played through Undertale and/or don't want some stuff spoiled DON"T READ THIS!**

 **Go play the game or watch a play through of the multiple endings in the game then read this to understand the character in this chapter.**

 **Otherwise I'm good**

"Are we there yet?" 10 year old Ruby wined as her uncle Qrow glanced back at his soon to be student. Qrow grinned at Ruby's pouted expression. "I'm serous uncle when are we getting to your training ground!"

"Oh did my little Niece that begged me to train her say she was serous?" Qrow loved how furious Ruby looked and eventually looked ahead of him. "Our destination isn't too far away kiddo," Qrow heard another puff and he rolled his red eyes. "Sorry. Huntress in training."

Ruby's expression changed to show a big grin on the youth's face. The red hooded girl followed her uncle as they continued their hike through the red colored forest.

Ruby Rose wore a black dress that seemed like it shouldn't survive an almost 4 day hike but it did. She also wore a belt with mutable 'gadgets' on it that Ruby claimed were necessary to bring on the hike. However the most defining part of the young girls outfit was a long Red hood that seemed to be tied to the dress Ruby was wearing.

Ruby's uncle Qrow was wearing a white coat and slick black pants that did look more like something you would wear on a 4 day hike. The 30ish man had a red bag he carried under his arm. Similar to Ruby's hood, Qrow had a large red cape that he claimed got him some kind of disease called 'babes.'

Ruby assumed that 'babes' were important to her uncle though which only made Ruby more confused because she thought a disease was bad for you. But the real hard part about this mystery was every time Ruby would ask Qrow if it worked he would give Ruby a sideways glance and just walk off somewhere for a few hours and come back sniffling.

But anyways… Ruby had been looking forward to this trip for almost 3 weeks now and she was determined she was at least going to be treated as a huntress in training and not some delicate flower.

About 10 months ago Ruby had gotten the ok from the Vale school board that she could attend Signal academy. This made not only Ruby happy but also her older sister Yang who was already attending Signal for almost 2 years now was just as happy.

And of course Ruby's father Taiyang was happy but he joked that as one of the instructors at Signal he wouldn't go easy on his little Rose and he would mold her into the perfect huntress in Remnant. (Aside from Yang, gotta have that sibling rivalry after all?)

Qrow on the other hand… while he was definitely happy for Ruby he seemed a little to 'meh' about it. So Ruby asked her uncle about his negative behavior and his reply was, "I just know if being a huntress is the best for you."

This one comment made Ruby furious. Ever since she was a baby she was told how hunters and huntresses would go out in the world saving the needy and fighting terrifying monsters. To Ruby they were beyond role models. They were her family.

Qrow, Taiyang and even Ruby's mom Summer rose were all hunters at one point. They helped people, stopped bad guys and were well respected. And Ruby was shocked that Qrow would think she couldn't become a huntress.

This lead to constant questioning and nagging from Ruby and sometimes Yang backed her up during these questionings. And finally one long talk with Taiyang later Qrow explained himself to Taiyang and Taiyang tried to explain to Ruby the best he could.

Taiyang wasn't the best at explaining things. The best Ruby could understand was Qrow believed she wasn't strong enough to become a huntress and no school, academy, or military teaching could come close to the experience Ruby would need.

What was Ruby's response to this? More questioning, only this time the questions were things like "Take me on a mission uncle Qrow." Or, "Will you please take your cutie niece to see you fight some Beowolfs?"

But the one thing that was constant after every question was a "PRETTY PLEASE." Along with some puppy dog eyes for added guilt factor. It took a month but Qrow agreed to personally train Ruby anything he could.

On the plus side it gave Ruby a lot more time with her uncle and she was probably in the most fit she had ever been in her entire life. She even got to use several weapons that her dad would never let her even touch.

On the negative side Ruby lost every weekend to going out on a mission with Qrow and having to deal with a ton of sarcastic and witty remarks. And of course Qrow's tests.

Qrow made tests for Ruby about every month to see how far Ruby had come. And each test while starting off with easy stuff like survive a night alone in the woods or using a loaded weapon ended up being kinda hard like last months test.

What was the test? Ruby had to kill 3 Beowolfs. A task which to any normal hunter wouldn't even be considered a problem, heck even Taiyang joked that he could do it with a blind fold and an arm tied behind his back.

But for a 10 year old girl that only had about 8 months of experience it was almost impossible. Ruby honestly believed she was going to get pinned of trapped or something by the Beowolf's superior speed.

The only way Ruby was able to beat the monsters at all was thanks to her semblance; a superpower that every hunter had locked inside them. Ruby's semblance allowed her to move at super speed giving her the advantage over the monsters and allowing her to complete the test.

That was about a month ago. Now it was time for Qrow's new and according to him final test. But first Qrow had to go ask Taiyang if it was ok to take Ruby away for the soon coming up summer break as this test could take a while.

Taiyang agreed and after a fist pump from her sister and a goodbye from her father, Ruby and Qrow walked off into the countryside. Emphasize on WALK.

They had walked for almost a week only resting when they needed to eat, to sleep or to hunt. The last 'activity' was something Ruby didn't excel to well in. This also led to several remarks from Qrow about 'what does it mean to be a hunter if you can't catch a rabbit?'

The worst part of it though was Qrow wouldn't tell Ruby where they were going. 'Probably scared I'll just use my semblance and just wait for him there.' Ruby grumbled as they continued to walk through a forest with trees similar to Forever falls only instead of red leaves they were yellow.

"And were here." Qrow's voice snapped Ruby back to reality. The two walked out into a large open field half of it was surrounded by the yellow trees and the other half of the field went down a cliff and into a large valley. Ruby walked over towards the edge of the cliff and looked out to see a beautiful valley filled with glowing green trees and surrounding the contained forest was a ring of large mountains.

As Ruby marveled at the location Qrow walked to stand side by side with her. "Pretty isn't it?" Qrow seemed to say to the wind. "Anyway trainee." Qrow looked sideways at Ruby. "You ready for the final test?"

Ruby inhaled and turned to look up at her uncle. Ruby's bright silver eyes sparked with determination.

Qrow snorted when he saw Ruby's expression. "Jeez calm down Ruby." Qrow pointed towards the largest mountain in the chain that circled the valley. "Step 1 of you test is to tell me what you know about that large mountain."

Ruby was shocked. Qrow had never given her a history related test before. Qrow thought the subject itself was almost always useless in a fight because if you're fighting a strong enough opponent then there would be more rumors about them then actual facts and Qrow loved a good rumor.

But Ruby wouldn't fail now because of the history of some mountain. Ruby turned and studied the mountain.

"…" Ruby continued to study the mountain. "…"

Qrow looked absently at Ruby's sweat dripping face like she could force the mountain to tell it's life story if she squinted at it. "You need some help-"

"I've got this!" Ruby half yelled as she continued to stair the mountain down. 'Mountains…'

Qrow hadn't expected Ruby to actually play along so perfectly with the fake out and he realized that he would need to say something before Ruby's head exploded. Qrow coughed loud enough for Ruby to get the hint to look over at him.

"Uncle Qrow, please I just need more time to remember…" Ruby saw Qrow grinning at her and she realized that he was pulling her leg. "You!..." Ruby wanted to say a mean word but thankfully her vocabulary wasn't large enough.

"Yeah even I don't know the full history of this mountain." Qrow's grin made Ruby want to punch him. "But I do believe the stories." Ruby's angry demeanor switched to a more curious one.

Ruby sat down cross-legged next to the cliff and Qrow joined her. The one thing that always got Ruby's attention was a good myth, legend or story. Even if it was from someone who just tricked her.

"It's said that Mount Ebott, holds a rare and impossible to find rare plant called the Dust Daisy." Qrow smiled as Ruby's eyes widened with wonder. "Now this Dust Daisy while supposedly only growing in Mount Ebott over there, no one knows for sure."

"What!" Ruby was at the edge of her 'seat'. "Whys that?"

"Well supposedly… there's a ghost that protects the Dust Daisy. Of course there have been a few adventurous souls that have dared to challenge this ghost to get the Dust Daisy." Qrow's playful grin changed to a sinister smile. "But no one that climbed Ebott ever came back to tell anyone what's really in the mountain."

Ruby gulped as her real test started to become clearer every second. 'Qrow can't expect me to fight a ghost just for a flower… right?'

"Your mission," Ruby held her breath. "Is to find one of these Dust Daisies." Qrow then positioned himself so he was lying back flat on the ground. "Meanwhile I'll wait here and work on my tan."

While Ruby lived in a world that had super powered guardians, creatures comprised of pure darkness and human animal hybrids; the idea of a ghost seemed a scary. What if she never sees her friends and family again?

'No.' Ruby shook herself out of her fears. 'Qrow wouldn't give me a test that I couldn't complete.' Ruby rose to her full 4 feet height and let her bright red hood flap a bit in the wind as she looked at mount Ebott.

"Oh and you might need this." Qrow held in one hand what looked like a small red bag that Ruby almost mistook as a purse. "I don't know a big this daisy could be so I got the biggest bag possible."

"Thanks." Ruby put the bag over one shoulder similar to how you would carry a work bag. Ruby took a few steps away from the cliff. The red girl turned and took up a sprinters stance. Her head pointed strait for the Mount Ebott.

"I call it Lucy... but I'm sure you'll come up with a better name." Qrow said to a trail of rose petals that were lost in the mid-morning breeze. 'Good luck ghost…your gonna need it if you mess with Ruby.'

Ruby corkscrewed in midair after she jumped of the cliff for effect. When Ruby started to get closer to the tree line she crashed through several branches until she finally hit a branch that Ruby used to catapult to the top of the tree line.

Like a fish breaking over the waves Ruby started to jump over the green leaves. As Ruby sped along she left a trail of red petals in her wake. After about 10 minutes Ruby ended up at the base of Mount Ebott a bit winded but otherwise still brimming with determination.

Ruby rested for a second before starting her climb up the mountain. This took a lot more effort as the mountain wasn't best for rock climbing. Luckily Ruby had practice climbing trees around her house. So she just imagined the rocky surface of the mountain was just strange bark.

"You know what I should have done…" Ruby said to herself.

"What Ruby?" Ruby asked curiously.

"I should have gone around the valley not through it. Then you wouldn't need to climb as much." Ruby bickered as she jumped to the next ledge.

"Oh come on Ruby that's part of the adventure." Ruby's response made Ruby grumble a bit. Just then she noticed something.

"Hey it's a cave." Ruby jumped again this time pushing her semblance for extra momentum. Ruby landed in front of a rather small cave. "Maybe hole is a better word for it."

Ruby inspected the hole and eventually figured it cut horizontally through the mountain. Or at least as far as Ruby could see into the hole as sunlight only made the first few feet clear enough to see.

"Maybe one of these cave holes could have a Dust Daisy in um." Ruby reasoned and pulled out a small flashlight off her belt and the 10 year old started to crawl through the cave hole.

On the plus side it was easier for Ruby to crawl through a cave hole than to climb a gigantic mountain. On the other hand the cave hole turned out to be connected to a ton of other cave holes.

Ruby crawled past holes smaller than her hand but other holes were as big if not bigger than the one Ruby was already in. One hole Ruby found was large enough that a Beowolf could side down it with elbow room to spare.

Ruby would have switched cave holes but she didn't for two reasons. One was she didn't want to get too lost in this cave maze. And two all of the cave holes Ruby found so far went straight down instead of horizontally like the one Ruby stayed in and she really didn't want to go down.

Eventually the cave hole opened up to a large cave. As Ruby got out of her cave hole she noticed that light was coming from farther down the cave and after taking a second to mark her cave hole with a red marker from her belt Ruby went off to investigate.

As Ruby rounded a corner she saw a large dome like room that had a large opening right at the top of the dome. Sunlight shown threw the opening and around the opening was what looked like several yellow flowers.

"Found um." Ruby grinned as she looked at the flower… way up there. "Now how do I get one?" Ruby tried to think of a way to get one of the Dust Daisy's without breaking some bones.

Ruby looked around the cave for anything useful in her cause. There were some rocks, some cave holes, some rocks, and a large group of vines growing over the ground. Ruby tried to use one of the vines like a cowboy to get one of the flowers that way.

That didn't work.

Ruby started to lay out everything she had to try and come up with a better plan. She had a small flashlight, a red marker, an apple she was saving for lunch, a small multi tool, a red yoyo, some ear buds and her scroll. Oh and rocks and vines, can't forget about those.

"Maybe I can put a sharp rock on the end of the yoyo… Nah." Ruby started to pace. Ruby continued to think up crazy idea's only to shoot them down just as quickly. Eventually Ruby had only two ideas left.

One she could back track and find the top of that opening. Since there was natural light coming shining through the opening it must open up somewhere on the outside of the mountain. The only problem with the plan was that it would take way to long and Ruby could spend the whole day and night trying to find the other side of the opening somewhere on the mountain.

The second idea was that Ruby could try and use her semblance to boost herself up to the opening; and while it was the quickest solution it did have its own of con as well. The major problem was that Ruby couldn't go from her top running speed to a 90 degree angle jump and not break something.

"What I need is something that could slingshot me while I'm going 100 miles per hour." Ruby continued to grumble. "Maybe if someone got me that high tension yoyo for my birthday I could make the turn, but no I'm too young, I could hurt myself and then I'd cry forever." Ruby tried to impersonate her father's voice.

Ruby sighed and sat down at the edge of the vine pile that seemed to grow right under the opening. Ruby absently poked the vines.

"Probably the only place you guys can get some sunlight." Ruby pouted at the vines. "Why did uncle Qrow give me this as a test? I mean yeah it seems impossible now but it could have been as easy as me picking a flower."

Ruby then gasped as she remembered what Qrow told her. "I need to fight a ghost!" Ruby jumped up happy with her realization. Then she realized if that part of the legend was true a ghost would have shown up by now.

"Well maybe that's for the best…" Ruby frowned as she looked at the Qrow's bag. "What do you thing Lucy? Could I beat a ghost with just you, a yoyo and an apple? Wouldn't it all just go through a ghost anyways?" Ruby frowned as she looked over the bright red bag.

It had a single zipper that opened up to reveal a slightly smaller space then Ruby was expecting a bag this size to have. "Lucy you're incredibly inefficient." Ruby said as he continued to examine the bag.

Ruby found a button. Not like a button on a shirt but the other kind of button. The kind you push. Ruby quickly pushed it. Almost instantly the bag started to hum and then it started to rattle and Ruby figured she should probably take a few steps back.

As Ruby stepped back the bag called Lucy started to transform. The once small bag was now a 3 foot long scythe with a red rose design all over it. At the end of Snath were the words, 'Lucy Version 0.0'

Ruby smiled as she picked up the light weight scythe with a dreamy excretion. "This is way better than a yo-yo."

Ruby had read magazines about the epic weapons hunters and huntresses would use in battle. They ranged from the simple swords that could change into a bow to the overkill Chaingun to a gigantic drill. But a bag into a scythe was something Ruby had not thought of.

Ruby had training in some basic weapons but a scythe was the one she wanted to master. They just looked super cool to hold in Ruby's opinion. Imagine using one of those like in a battle. Using a gigantic scythe sharper that any razor, but light enough for a girl to use.

This scythe that Ruby was holding was perfect example of what Ruby begged her dad for, ever since she stared her training with Qrow. It was beautiful… sleek… red… sharp.

"Ok Ruby stop drooling!" Ruby shook herself out of the dreamy state her present had put on her. "Now with you… Crescent I could just reach those daisies." Ruby started using her renamed weapon to execute a new plan.

After a few minutes Ruby had 'rearranged' some large rocks by cutting a path so she would have a better running start. She also cut most of the rogue vines that grew loosely around the cave and put them with the other vines that grew under the Dust Daisies.

"You'll be my plant pillow… Hopefully." Ruby said to the pile as walked past a large chunk of rock cut to resemble a ramp. She stopped towards the edge of the cave and took a sprinter's stance. "Alright plan C don't fail me now!"

Ruby started to run clockwise around the cave. Using her semblance she started building up momentum with each lap. After about 10 laps Ruby had hit her full speed and aimed her new scythe so she could get ready to make a quick right turn.

"Going good so far." Ruby slammed the sharp blade of the scythe into the ground on her 15th lap. This action caused Ruby to swing so she was now facing the center of the cave and the rap shaped rock.

Luckily Ruby was able to keep her momentum from the swing so she was still going as fast as she was pre-swing. The bad part was that Ruby had _too_ much momentum behind her.

Ruby ran straight ahead using the rap shape rock as a ramp. She ended up with more than enough height after running of the ramp to reach one of the Dust Daisies. Unfortunately she ended up slamming into the opening at the top of the cave.

Right before Ruby started to fall she slashed Crescent at the Daisy's stems. As Ruby fell she noticed that she was over the pile of vines. Quick as she could Ruby tucked into a cannon ball as she slammed into the vines. Ruby didn't feel the slam you would normally feel when you slam into the ground.

You know how when you bounce on a trampoline or in a bounce house you stretch the elastic and get that feeling of going down a bit. That was the feeling Ruby was experiencing when she hit the vine pile.

"Huh?" Ruby opened her eyes in confusion.

*SNAP*

Ruby looked around when she hear a loud snap like a yo-yo's string broke. As Ruby regained her senses she noticed she was in the pile of vines. Just then it felt like she went down a few feet.

"Wha- What's going on!?" Ruby started to push herself out of the pile.

*SNAP* *SNAP*

As more snaps started to echo through the cave Ruby busted out of the pile and franticly looked around for the source of the snapping noise. Ruby noticed that her pile seemed to sink into the earth by about 8 feet.

Ruby realized what happened as more vines snapped. "The vines hid a cave hole!" Using the last of her energy Ruby jumped and managed to grab the rocky wall as the last vine snapped.

Ruby looked back where she was resting a second ago and saw the pile of vines fall down a pit that calling it a Cave hole wouldn't do it justice. It was more like a Cavepit, and Ruby was dangling over it.

"GWAHH!" Ruby screamed when she processed just how close she was to falling. Ruby then felt the wall she was gripping start to crack under her terrified grip. "AHH I'M GOING TO FALL!"

"..."

Ruby's panic state broke for a second when she swore she heard something above her. Ruby looked up to see the room she was in and could see tons of Dust Daisies slowly gliding down to Ruby.

But what mostly caught Ruby's attention was her scythe, Crescent. It looked like its blade had digged into the wall over Ruby's head during the fall, and just in Ruby's reach. Ruby reached out with one hand and managed to grab the end of the Scythe as the part of the wall that Ruby was holding onto fell down the Cavepit.

Ruby let out a sigh of relief and started to take in her current situation. "Ok first I need to get out of this pit." Ruby started to shimmy along up scythe and almost reached the wall again but stopped when a voice call down to her in a slightly childish tone.

"Hey kiddo."

Ruby looked up and saw an outline of what looked like someone kneeling to look down at Ruby's predicament. Ruby had a hard time looking up as the sunlight from the opening gave the figure a dark outline. But when Ruby saw the figure had red eyes and something flapping like a cape behind them she knew who it must be.

"Oh… hey Qrow." Ruby figured her Uncle must have followed her and now he was going to say that Ruby failed her test and he wouldn't train her to become a full-fledged huntress all because she couldn't get a simple daisy. Just then Ruby noticed that several of the Duct Daisies that started to fall fell around Qrow's outline and landed on the ground next to him.

"Whelp… there's the fabled Dust Daisy you wanted." Ruby sounded oddly sarcastic considering she was still hanging in a Cavepit. "Now can you please help me up Qrow!" Ruby gave a pouted expression towards the red eyed outline.

"Sorry." The outline cast a wide grin. "But you're going down." Before Ruby could react the outline landed right on Ruby's left hand making her scream in pain. Ruby looked at the outline she thought was her uncle but now that it was closer to her, Ruby could tell this person was too short to be her uncle.

Then Ruby realized what was really looking back at her with glowing red eyes. "You're the ghost!" Ruby was in total shock as she looked up at the smiling ghost noting what it looked like.

The ghost looked to be the same age as Ruby. It even had the same red hair, the same body type and the same flowing red hood as Ruby. The key difference between the two was that instead of a red and black dress the ghost had a green and yellow striped shirt.

"Well… Ruby," The ghost slowly stepped on Ruby's other hand making sure to reinforce all of the pain Ruby was feeling in her hand. "I suppose _I was…_ "

Ruby didn't like how her Ghost double said was and she really didn't like the pain in her right hand. 'I can't lose to ghost me!' Ruby silently grumbled as the ghost double continued to smile at her.

"But with you I'll get revenge on all those idiots." The ghost's eyes and mouth started to drip blood red tears. "Starting with that-"

The ghost didn't get to finish its thought because Ruby's apple hit it square in the face and the ghost backed up with its hand covering its face. At first Ruby was happy that her attack had even worked on a ghost and she pulled herself up. Ruby was careful as with every movement the blade of the scythe rocked back and forth in the stone wall.

But just as Ruby pulled herself up the ghost dashed forward and grabbed Ruby's throat clearly angry at the red mark over its face. Speaking of faces Ruby had a hard time looking at the ghosts face without getting dizzy. Although that could be because she was getting strangled.

"You through an apple at my face." The ghost said calmly through its constant smile. "You are a brave little kid aren't you?" Ruby managed to grin as a plan formed in her mind.

"Nope." Ruby's grip weakened on the scythe and the ghost pressed its advantage over her. "I'm actually a bit of a daredevil." With that Ruby grabbed the ghost's arm and pulled the two of them off the scythe and down into the pit.

Ruby had never gone skydiving but she felt like this was a good equivilant of the activity. The ghost meanwile never lost its playful grin but seemed to look quizzical as the two continued to fall down the pit with no signs of stopping.

"Well that was stupid." The ghost chuckled and let go of Ruby's thoat. Ruby pushed herself away from the ghost and tried to regain her breath. "You just did what I wanted you to-" Before the ghost could continue Ruby managed through her yo-yo right into the grinning ghost's face.

"Take that!" Ruby made a face at the ghost. It looked blankly at Ruby its grin was gone and Ruby's moment of victory disappeared. The ghost kicked off the wall and aimed its own punch at Ruby.

" **DIE**!"

Ruby barley dodged the simple attack with the fact that they were still falling would have impressed Qrow if he ever got to see it. Ruby was about to turn and make fun of the ghost again but her voice caught in her throat.

When the ghost hit the side of the pit it managed to dig into the wall and was quickly slowing down as Ruby continued to fall into the pit.

" **BUT I GET YOU BODY AFTER YOU DO!** "

The ghost's laugh echoed and Ruby's eyes at first looked defeated as she thought she could at least crash that thing into the ground with her. Ruby's mind raced as she tried to think up another plan. Just then Ruby remembered something that Qrow had theorized about her semblance.

'Your semblance allows you to travel at ridicules speeds in the fraction of a second, and that would give you an advantage in an open area like if you were in an open field or forest. However it wouldn't give you much of an advantage if you were pinned or trapped like a rat. Fortunately I think I've got a solution for that problem.'

So Ruby started to run.

At first Ruby ran along the Cavepit's wall only serving to increase the impact she would feel when she eventually hit bottom. But as Ruby continued to go down and increasing her speed with every step, she started to loop around the Cavepit.

'You know those things in museums that you drop a coin in and it starts to circle around and around and eventually the coin just falls down into some money jar?'

Ruby's speed continued to climb as her uncle's words resonated in her mind. And she started to run in a loop so fast it looked like a red fan blade just went supersonic.

'Well theoretically of course, you could be like one of those coins. You could start running, building up energy and delivering one epic punch to the bad guy.'

Pushing her semblance to its max, Ruby raced up the Cavepit and saw her ghost double digged into wall it's creepy grin and glowing red eyes looking down at her. Ruby held back her fist as she closed the distance before the thing could even react.

"PETAL PUNCH!"

Ruby's fist collided with the ghost's grinning face as rose petals seemed to blast around her for an extra cool factor.

'Too bad you punch like a girl though no matter how much speed you've got behind yea.'

The ghost didn't even seem that fazed as it reached out and grabbed the back of Ruby's head. With strength that didn't seem to match its 10 year-old form the ghost slammed Ruby into the Cavepit's wall. Then again and again until Ruby was hanging limply in this thing's grip.

"Well…" Its powerful red eyes looked right into Ruby's weak silver ones. "Are you done yet?" Ruby looked past the ghost or whatever this thing really was and looked up at the fading light. "I'd say you are."

Just before the double could finish of the real thing Ruby pointed up and mumbled something. Not wanting its new host's last word go unheard the double pulled Ruby closer so it could hear.

"You said something," The things grin grew wider as it saw Ruby's life fade like steam. "Partner."

"don't… move…" Ruby looked at her double with a weak smile. Before the double could figure out what she meant a shadow blocked out the small light for a second. The double quickly looked up just in time to see the blade of Crescent to cut right into its chest.

"Wha…" The double looked at the scythe in confusion. It must have started falling after it and Ruby had started falling. The thing's grin turned into a bloody scowl directed at Ruby.

" **YOU LITTLE SPOIL SPOR-** "

Before the double could kill Ruby any of millions of ways it wanted to Ruby's eyes flashed with determination. She quickly grabbed onto Crescent and pulled it like a lever. The blade of the Crescent cut through the ghost like butter.

"i'm a huntress… not a spoil sport…" Ruby breathed out as she and the almost cut in half ghost fell down into the darkness of the Cavepit.

 **"..."**

* * *

 **YEAH! Done with the first chapter.**

 **So for starters, people that have played though Undertale's Genocide ending probably know the character that tried to kill Ruby there and if you don't go look up Chara on the Undertale wiki for me thanks.**

 **And to clarify a few more things, There will be no Frisk in this story. 10 year old Ruby is completely replacing Frisk for this story so get over it. This fanfic will eventually cover the rest of Undertale's lore and story just be patience.**

 **Also the reason I wanted to do a story with Ruby replacing Frisk was because I always found the start of Undertale strange as that the player is given nothing that lets them 'understand Frisk'. Why did Frisk fall down into the underground? Where did Frisk come from before this? The player has no idea and yes I get the whole silent protagonist thing but it just feels off to me.**

 **So sorry for forcing you to read a bunch of text that if your a fan of RWBY you already know but this story is** ** **designed** for people who know Undertale to read and enjoy. Not that you can't be a fan of both RWBY and Undertale but... you know what I mean.  
**

 **And the last thing is the lore... This will be fun...**

 **So for RWBY lore it is honestly never really going to impact this story I have planned as of December 2015. Mainly because I have a hard time understanding Undertale lore correctly and RWBY lore is to confusing to understand so I'm not including it in the story. If I start adding it in than people have explaned RWBY lore to me in a way I can understand and I've added it so yeah...  
**

 **Now Undertale lore... Its a tough call. Only because the game hasn't been out long enough for everything to be set in stone and that's kind of why it took me forever to create this story as it took me several months to start to understand most of the lore and story of Undertale. So for the most part I am going to just leave it up in the air as to how exact the lore in Undertale will be. But I'll try to be as acurate as possible. (And yeah I gave Chara a cape hood but its not that big of a design change)**

 **So with all that out of the way! please fav, follow and tell me if you think I should continue this story.**

 **See yea...**


	2. Chapter 1: The 1st Smile

**Hey everyone and I want to thank all of the positive feedback I've gotten for this story with just one pro-log out so far, Thanks you readers and I hope you have (or had) a happy holidays.**

 **And just as a little question I want answered (if you want to). Which route do you think (or want) Ruby to go down?**

 **Now this isn't a poll for which route Ruby goes down but I do want to know your opinions on this. leave your answer in a review or PM me your responce if you don't want others to know for some reason.**

 **I don't own Undertale or RWBY. Duh.**

* * *

"Ah!" Ruby bolted up and immediately felt a shock of pain in her left arm that kept her in a sitting position. "ow…" Ruby wined as she rubbed her hurting arm. "What… happened?" Ruby started looking around her.

Ruby was lying on top of a pile of yellow and red petals in a small cave. If Ruby moved some of the petals she could see a pile of vines under them. The only light source was directly over her coming out of an opening over her head. She felt like she had blacked out on that roller coaster Yang made her ride a few months ago.

"oh… right…" Ruby's memories started to come back to her. "I fell…" Ruby slowly got to her feet looking up at the opining her eyes showed a mix of anger and humiliation at the fact that her undoing was the equivalent of a simple pit trap.

"Man, Qrow's going to be so disappoint-" Just then a single thought overpowered all of Ruby's other thoughts. Like a single screaming voice in Ruby's head telling her one thing over and over again.

"I'm about to throw up." And with that Ruby doubled over and threw up. "Gah!" Ruby gagged when she finished and looked down at the pile of black substance that she 'left' next to the pile. "What did I eat this morning?"

"Uh… Maybe this isn't a good time." A new voice said behind Ruby. Ruby quickly dried her mouth and turned. Ruby looked for the source of the voice but didn't see anyone.

"um… Hello?" Ruby slowly rose to her voice despite of the pain in her throat from the impromptu vomiting. "Who's there?" Ruby continued to look around for the source of the voice.

"Down here." The now slightly annoyed voice made, Ruby looked down. 'Standing' there was what could only be described as a yellow flower with face looked back at Ruby. "Howdy." The flowers face had a small smile as it talked. "My name is Flowey, Flowey the flower."

For a few seconds Ruby looked back at the smiling flower with a totally blank expression. **"…"** Flowey coughed.

"This would be the part," Flowey's face changed to a more annoyed expression. "Were you tell the other 'person' your name."

"Oh sorry… I'm Ruby… Ruby Rose…" Flowey chuckled a little at Ruby's last name. "Hey!" Flowey's looked over at Ruby who's eyes narrowed. "What's so funny?"

"Your last name… mostly." Flowey kept his smile and Ruby only squinted more at the talking flower. "Anyway… Ruby, I'm sure you have no idea where you are right?" Flowey expected Ruby to nod like a good girl, just like the others before her.

"Nope, I just figured it out." Ruby put her hands on her hips and smiled. Flowey's own expression switched to a confused frown then a large big grin.

" _Oh Really?"_

"Yep, I'm dreaming." Flowey's sinister expression changed to a blank one as he looked at the girl in front of him. "No it makes sense. See I remember hitting my head on the cave wall when I was trying to get to the Dust Daisies." Ruby moved her hands as she talked.

"The what kind of daisies?" Flowey found the term dust and why it was affiliated with a plant interesting. _'Could it be referring to the dust left by monster?_ But this girl also thinks this is all just a dream…'Flowey mentally weighed his opinions of Ruby as she continued to talk.

"So after the hit to my noggin, I ended up dreaming up falling into a pit, the ghost attack, and killing said ghost. Then I fell and the dream continued with me waking up and talking to a talking flower." Flowey looked at Ruby with his eyebrow raised and his normal smile back on his face. "What?"

"How did you kill a ghost? There already dead." Flowey should know that killing ghosts was impossible, but it also seemed weird that a ghost would attack anyone at all.

"Well I guess I didn't confirm it was dead…" Ruby rubbed the back of her neck slightly embarrassed. She had said the same thing many times over when she was going through her uncle Qrow's tests that involved hunting and/or killing Grimm.

Flowey shook his head. 'Do I even want to know how dense this girl really is? _But at least she's able to follow the one rule of this world.'_ Flowey looked up at Ruby. "Well where was the last place you saw this 'ghost'?"

Ruby pointed up at the opening that still had sunlight still shining through it. "Assuming dream logic hasn't altered reality, I last saw it when we were fighting and falling…" Ruby tried to think up a better name for the activity when you fight someone and are falling at the same time.

"What do you mean dream logi- Oh right you think this is a dream." Flowey rolled his eyes and Ruby turned to point at Flowey.

"Fall fighting! And of course this is a dream I'm talking to a talking flower with a face." Ruby pointed at Flowey's not amused face.

"Were really going to do this now aren't we." Flowey's tone lost all of its light hearted-ness and he disappeared into the ground. Before Ruby could say anything Flowey popped back up next to the pile of vines and petals.

"Heh… Dreams are cool." Flowey rolled his eyes as Ruby continued to giggle.

"Alright, assuming you fell from any height you would probably survive if you landed on this pile of… stuff, dream of not." Ruby watched more amused that a talking flower was trying to explain how she survived a deathly fall in a dream.

Flowey quickly caught on that Ruby wasn't going to believe him anytime soon and the flower only sighed. "Fine I won't convince you that this is real."

"Aw I thought it was cute to hear you talk like you knew everything." Ruby gave Flowey a warm smile that didn't change Flowey's slightly annoyed expression.

"Whatever kiddo… But um do you think you could… help me with something?" Ruby looked at Flowey more curiously than amused now. "Well more like satisfying my curious mind."

"Well sure Flowey what do want to know?" Flowey's expression changed back to his normal smile at Ruby's words.

"Do you thing I could see how you beat that ghost that attacked you?" Ruby looked at Flowey and a frown quickly stretched over her face. "Unless you didn't actually get attacked… _And you're lying to me-"_

"I didn't lie!" Ruby cut Flowey off not noticing the small flower's tone. "It just ended up coming down to dumb luck and not my own skill of power." Flowey looked at Ruby curiously. "Without my uncle Qrow's weapon I would have be powerless."

"Well… What kind of weapon beat the ghost and where is it?" Ruby scratched the back of her head as she thought.

"If I had to guess it ended up in this pile… somewhere." Ruby glanced over the main pile of vines. "I think it fell a little ahead of me after I…"Ruby's voice trailed off and she took very fast steps away from the pile. Ruby didn't stop backing up until she hit the wall of the cave.

Flowey looked back at her curiously. "Something else I should know?" Ruby glanced down at Flowey but quickly locked her eyes with the pile.

"That ghost that attacked me could be under there with my weapon." Ruby gulped with fear and Flowey grinned at the pile.

"Well let's see shall we?" Ruby looked down at Flowey with a mix of confusion and fear.

"What?! Why would you want to do that?!" Flowey realized he made a mistake with how he fraised his words.

Just like before Flowey disappeared into the earth and reappeared so he was next to Ruby. Who hadn't unlocked her eyes from the pile and her breathing was raspy.

Almost like she was chocking under the devil's grip.

"Hey kiddo…" Flowey tried for a friendly tone. "So… um… What's going on?" Ruby looked at the flower's attempt at a reassuring smile.

"It's just that fight with the ghost…" For a millisecond red eyes and a simple smile flashed in Ruby's mind's eye. "It was a very one sided battle."

"Well," Flowey reappeared next to the pile with his normal smile over his face. "How about you stay there and I'll move the pile to get your weapon out from under here so you can defend yourself." Flowey winked. "Okey dokey?"

"What? No, no!" Ruby quickly got to her feet and started walking back over to the pile. "You can't move that whole pile you're just a flower." Ruby used a tone her sister Yang used on her a few times.

Flowey only looked back at Ruby with slight amusement. "Oh don't worry." Flowey winked and the vines in the pile started to squirm like worms. "I'm not your average flower."

Ruby watched in amazement as the vines started to unravel from the pile. Once a vine was removed from the pile it moved away from the pile and stretched straight up like pillar. Ruby watched Flowey trying to understand how he was doing this.

Before Ruby could think up a reason (other than dream logic) she remembered who could be waiting in the pile. She quickly turned her glowing red eyes back on the pile. She was determined to not let something blind side her like that Ghost girl did ever again.

Just for a second Ruby felt like something was off. Like getting out of bed and realizing you're an inch taller. Only in this case it wasn't Ruby's height, it was her heart. It wasn't beating.

Ruby put her hands over her heart in a panic. Almost instantly she started to hear her heart beat return to normal. Ruby sighed in relief. 'I want to wake up now.'

' **I want to go home…NOW!'** Before Ruby could react to the voice Flowey started to move back and forth on his stem.

"Here's the last one!" Ruby's attention was quickly brought back to what remained of the pile. Meanwhile Flowey was just grinning at the whole uniqueness of the situation.

The last vine was moved away to reveal… a red bag. It looked a little beaten up and it had some green stuff around it but there was no denying it.

"Crescent!" Ruby cried out with glee and stars filled her eyes. Flowey looked up at Ruby with his eye brow raised.

"I can guess that that's yours… but is that the weapon you used to kill the ghost?" Flowey had never seen a 'weapon' like that, so to say the least he was optimistic.

"Well see Crescent has two forms its bag form and its scythe form." Ruby still had stars in her eyes as she explained. "And yes, while Crescent was in her scythe form it cut right into that ghost girl."

"Well this clears out a few things." Flowey's grin widened and he motioned towards Crescent. "First get your bag. I would but you know," Flowey did the equivalent of a shrug. "No hands."

Ruby giggled at Flowey's gesture. "Ok, thanks Flowey." Ruby ran past several towering vines and stopped next to Crescent. "I know this is just a dream…" A sincere smile spread over Ruby's face as she talked to the bag. "But it feels good to see you again."

But as Ruby tried to pull Crescent up and on to her shoulder the bag ended up getting stuck on something. "Huh?" Ruby tried to pull Crescent up again but it felt like it was really stuck. "What's going on?"

" _If it wasn't a ghost that you killed…"_ A chill ran over Ruby's back. _"Then there would have been a pile of dust… or a body if it was just a human that attacked you…"_ Ruby turned to see Flowey had popped up so he was in between two of the towering vines.

"Flowey what are you talking about?" Ruby's heart skipped a beat when Flowey's face started to melt as he continued to talk.

" _So either you lied to me about fighting someone…"_ Flowey's eyes had turned black and his mouth grew fangs. _"Or your weapon was actually able to kill a ghost!"_ Ruby was about to ask what the now scary flower was talking about. But before she could Ruby felt something prick her arms.

Ruby looked back at her hands and gasped. The pieces of plant that Ruby thought came off the vines had turned out to be small roots wrapped around Crescent. Now the roots had started to latch onto Ruby's arms and digging at her skin.

"AH!" Ruby screamed and tore herself away from Crescent and the roots. "What- What's going on!?" Ruby noticed that Flowey was gone.

" _Aww what's the matter?"_ Flowey's voice echoed through the compact cave. _"I guess you don't want your weapon that much."_

Ruby's silver eyes scanned the room for Flowey but couldn't see much with the pillar like vines all around her. Ruby's heart started to beat faster as each cackle from the once friendly flower rang out.

" _Now that I think about it this must be a nightmare for you… little Rose…"_ Flowey's question was followed up by more echoing laughter. _"Sorry I just remembered that you think this is a dream."_ One of the towering vines pointed directly at Ruby's heart. _"But I'll make sure you never wake up."_ The vine stabbed down.

Ruby used her semblance to bolt out of the way and she ended up running full force into another towering vine. "AH!" Just then the vine towering over her started to fall towards her like a chopped down tree.

" _Oh and don't worry about your weapon…"_ Ruby rolled out of the way and the vine slammed into the earth. "I'll take good care of it for you." Ruby slowly got to her weak feet. _"Along with your soul."_ Flowey's laughs filled the cave again.

Ruby's legs quivered as the vines all started to point at her. 'Am I going to die?' She was scared, confused and in pain. But more importantly… deep down she felt something in her. Just before Ruby could understand what this feeling was, the cave was covered in a blood red light.

' **N** o **.** ' Ruby felt limp as the red light started to engulf her. **'** I **c** a **n'** t **d** i **e** - **'** Before Ruby could process what was going on she felt something large slam into her back.

"Ah!" Ruby regained her senses and her face was flat into the ground. "wha- what?" Ruby felt like her whole body was on fire.

" _AWWWWWWWWW!"_ Flowey's voice was much closer and as Ruby pulled her face out of the dirt she saw the yellow flower was only a few inches away from her. _"You were so energetic for a second there!"_ His face was now warped into a human's bleeding skull. _"Did I beat that energy out of you?"_

Ruby trued to crawl away from the horrific image. But as soon as she lifted a finger one of the towering vines slammed full force on the defenseless Ruby's back. Ruby's scream was like music to Flowey's ears.

" _I think I heard your spine break."_ The vine started to return to its towering position. Ruby couldn't feel her legs. _"But I want to make sure…"_ Two more vines started to loom over Ruby's battered body. _"Any last words… girl?"_

"s- st- stop… please…" Flowey just sighed clearly disappointed. "i- I want- I want to go home!"

" _BLA BLA BLA!"_ Again the vines took aim at Ruby's heart. _"I guess you'll just DIE dense!"_ Ruby closed her eyes as the vines started to move down.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" A new voice boomed threw the cave. Before Ruby or Flowey could react a wave of fire disintegrated the vines over Ruby. Flowey had popped back into the ground and reappeared a few feet away from Ruby.

"wh-" Ruby tried to stutter out a response. But before she could a new form appeared between Ruby and Flowey. Ruby couldn't make out who it was but the aura of protection coming off of her was clear.

The new figures voice boomed again. "LEAVE THIS HUMAN ALONE!" Several orbs of fire appeared around the figure only reinforcing her demand.

Flowey looked a little uneasy at the figure. 'He probably doesn't like fire.' Ruby noted still gasping for air. Just then the other pillar like vines in the cave pointed at the flaming figure and Flowey's expression changed to its more sinister counterpart.

' **Or maybe not.'**

The vines japed, slammed and even dug out of the earth all aimed at the new figure. Each vine was burned to a crisp and Ruby watched in amazement. The figure didn't seem to move an inch but their graceful movements seemed to summon more fire to fight off Flowey's attacks.

Soon all the vines were reduced to ash and all that was left in the cave was Ruby, Flowey, the new figure and Crescent. Flowey growled clearly displeased at the turn of events. For a moment Ruby was happy at the flower's discomfort.

Then Flowey started laughing. _"Welp this was… eventful."_ Flowey's normal smile returned. " _But next time I'll keep it down, so you won't come running."_

Ruby didn't like how Flowey was simply ignoring the clearly overpowering figure in front of him. 'He's treating this whole fight like it doesn't mean anything.' Ruby thought and the figure seemed to think the same.

"If you don't leave!" The figure took a step forward and pointed its last orb of flame at Flowey. "I WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN!"

" _Oh, I'll leave."_ Flowey turned his attention directly to Ruby. _"But now that I know your story Ruby… I'll kill you on the spot!"_ Flowey started to laugh and Ruby felt like the world around her started to crack and break a part.

"What's going on?" Ruby started to see three different realities in front of her.

One image Ruby saw that she was lying flat on her stomach. Clearly in pain from… something. Flowey and some large figure were standing off, and there were ashes everywhere.

Another was Ruby lying on the pile of flowers and vines again. Ruby was relaxed and just waking up from a dream. She could smell cinnamon, or maybe it was chocolate.

In the last reality, Ruby felt limp. Like before her whole body felt limp and all she could see was blood red.

Each reality seemed to exist all at the same time. Each seemed like they wanted to exist at the same time but they knew only one could be real. And it looked like Ruby would have to choose which one was real.

"ah." Ruby peeped as she was lying flat on her stomach. Her back felt like it was on fire and she coughed as bit of vine ashes had entered her lungs. "what… what happ-"

"I SAID LEAVE!" Ruby's attention was quickly directed to the two figures that were still standing off. The flaming figure still pointed its fire at Flowey the flower.

The only difference this time was that Flowey seemed a bit confused. Like he tried to enter his password to unlock his scroll and it came up as incorrect.

"Wh-What?" Flowey started to shake with anger. "Why… _WHY CAN'T I GO BACK!?"_ Flowey started to shake back and forth in anger. _"WHY DID IT FAIL?!"_

"This is your last warning!" The figure growled. "Leave and don't ever attack this human EVER AGAIN!"

" _Shut up!"_ Flowey replied with his own growl. _"I only attacked that kid… because…"_ Flowey's voice trailed off as his eyes looked into Ruby's. _"you."_

Ruby gulped as Flowey's face melted to show gleaming fangs. "m- me?" Ruby started to shake.

" _it's because of you…"_ Flowey's voice was almost inaudible. But it didn't stay that way _"IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU I CAN'T GO BACK TO MY SAVE POINT! WELL FINE!"_ Suddenly the roots that were around Crescent started to pull the red bag into the earth.

Ruby's eyes widened in fear as her uncle Qrow's gift disappear into the earth. And just like a good night's sleep, Crescent was gone.

" _I'll take something from you!"_ Flowey started to laugh. _"You Bitc-"_ Before Flowey could finish the orb of fire blasted at his stupid flower face.

Then the cave was silent and quite calmness filled the air.

Ruby signed in relief and the figure lowered their intimidating demeanor. "T- Thanks." Ruby rasped out still not feeling to hot but she felt like it was the appropriate thing to say.

"Oh No!" The figure quickly turned and kneeled down. "I need to heal you! You pour child." The figure sounded overcome with worry. Her terrifying nature seemed to be gone but protective one was still going strong.

"You can do that?" Ruby tried to crane her head up so she could see her saviors face. But as soon as she tried the figure placed one of their hands on Ruby's head to keep it in place.

"Of course I can, but please try not to strain yourself child." Ruby would have huffed but the figure's hands felt warm and her voice wall slightly forceful had a layer of tenderness behind it. Almost like a mom rocking a baby in her arms. Ruby started to fell a warm tingly feeling spread over her back.

Now that Ruby had time to fully process this figure it definitely sounded like an older woman's voice. 'So if this isn't a dream.' While Ruby didn't want to admit it she was awake she needed to get over her illusion before she could move on. 'Then this woman must be like a super monster hunter, or something.'

' **Why don't you ask her yourself?'**

'Oh yeah.' Ruby shifted just enough for the old woman to hear her more easily. "So… who are you lady?" For a second the woman didn't seem to hear the question.

"I am Toriel care taker of the Ruins." Toriel seemed to say it with a note of sorrow. "I should have been here to help you sooner."

"Nah," Ruby's response surprised Toriel. "I should have checked for a Cavepit under the pile of vines I made." Ruby didn't want Toriel to feel bad about saving her. "Besides I got to see you kick that jerk Flower's butt!"

Toriel chuckled as she finished healing Ruby. "Thank you… Um… may I ask you your name?" Toriel stood up and offered Ruby a hand up.

"My name is Ruby," Ruby took the large woman's hand up. "Ruby Rose…" Ruby looked back at Toriel blankly for a few seconds.

Toriel was around 5 and a half feet tall, she wore a large sage like outfit with a black and white color pallet. But the thing that made Ruby fall silent was that Toriel had goat like features. She had a coat of white fur over her face and hands, she also had two small horns poking out of her forehead and two goat ears drooping on either side of her head.

"You're a faunus." Ruby shook her head. "No that's not right, you should only have the ears then… right?" Toriel looked both confused and concerned as Ruby tried to understand what Toriel was.

"Ruby I'm a monster." Toriel tried to explain but Ruby looked back at Toriel in shock.

"What!? No! You're a great person. Or Faunus. Or Ghaaaaah!" Ruby's decade old mind started short circuiting. "This doesn't make any sense!" Ruby was about to run around in circles until Toriel put a hand (or paw?) on top of Ruby's head.

"Ruby, Let's get out of this room and head back to my home." Toriel started to walk towards another cave pulling Ruby along by her right hand. "I can explain everything I can on the way."

Wall Ruby didn't like someone holding her hand she kept pace with Toriel. "You live underground?"

"We all live in the underground." Toriel's face adopted a small frown. "All us monster live down here."

"You speak in riddles goat lady."

 **"…heh...almost."**

* * *

 **And there is the 1st chapter, a bit shorter than the pro-log but I hope still enjoyable to read.  
**

 **Remember to leave a review or PM to tell me your thoughts, and If you like this story favorate and/or Follow.**

 **But the most important thing to do is to Stay Determined. P.G.P. out!**


	3. Chapter 2: A Period of Instruction

**Man I got this done quick, I want to thank all of the people that Favorited, Followed and have read S.D. and all of the feed back I've gotten from people.** **I would also like to thank all the people that told me what path they would like to see Ruby go down and what they thought about the Flowey fight.**

 **I also want to personally thank Rob The Robot 2.0's review as I feel like Rob's review encapsulates what I wanted everyone to experience when reading S.D. and every Fanfic writer should strive to when they write a story.**

 **Also the story is now dealing with text specific stuff from the game, But I tried to make the interactions as fun as possible while also adding a bit of originality so people don't just skip around.**

 **You guess know I don't own Undertale or RWBY right? No? Well I don't. :(  
**

* * *

"Alright…" Ruby wanted to make sure she understood Toriel before they went any further in the place Ruby found out was called the Ruins. "So you're a nice monster lady…"

"Correct little one." Toriel gave a warm smile back at Ruby. Ruby gave back her own smile happy with the appraisal.

"And the whole… um…" Ruby couldn't remember the word Toriel used. "Group of monsters-"

"I believe the word you're looking for is population."

"Yep, a whole population of monster on Remnant lives in the place called the Underground… that's under Mt. Ebott." Even Ruby could see the irony in that. "And you're all trapped in the underground because of this barrier thing that I managed to pass through because I'm no teen."

"Yes…" Toriel didn't turn to look at Ruby this time. Ruby's face showed a mix of anger and worry at Toriel's response.

"And you live in the Ruins…" Ruby tried to think of a way to snap Toriel out of this funk she seemed to put on her.

As the two continued throughout the Ruins the two came to a gigantic closed door with a level next to it. Ruby just thought that they would just have pull the level to open it. But Toriel stopped in the center of the room.

"Now," Toriel turned to Ruby. "Allow me to educate you in the operations of the Ruins." Toriel then moved around the room for a bit and Ruby herd faint clicks every few seconds. After 4 clicks Toriel walked to the lever and pulled it down.

The door made a click sound and it opened wide. Toriel turned back to Ruby, who was scratching her chin in thought. "The Ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient Fusions between diversions and doorkeys, one must solve them to go room to room."

Ruby loved how mythical Toriel was making the Ruins sound.

"You should-" Toriel stopped when Ruby raised her hand. "Yes Ruby?"

"Do the puzzles reset every time you leave a room?" Ruby was only asking because she figured that could get annoying very quickly. 'Especially if I'm using my semblance.'

"They should only reset if you haven't solved the puzzle before." Toriel smiled back at Ruby and walked the goat lady started walking through the doors motioning for Ruby to follow.

Ruby followed Toriel to the next room that seemed to be more rectangle shaped then the last one. Ruby also heard running water and saw several switches along the wall.

"To make progress in this room you will need to hit several switches." Ruby was a little disappointed she didn't get to figure out this rooms puzzle for herself. But Toriel just wanted to help so Ruby would let it go. "Do not worry, I have labeled the ones you need to flip."

Ruby frowned as Toriel walked to the far side of the room and stopped next to another closed door.

"No need to take all the fun out of it." Ruby grumbled under her breath and she started to pull the marked switches down. Ruby made it to the last two levers and saw that they were both right next to each other.

Ruby was about to pull down both but stopped when she noticed that the last one wasn't marked. Ruby looked back towards Toriel who was trying to make it look like she was looking away. And failing at it.

Ruby deciding not to disrespect the nice monster only pulled the marked switch down. There were some more clicking noises and the door next to Toriel opened.

"Splendid I so am proud of you Ruby!" Toriel had a large grin on her face. "Let us move to the next room." Toriel turned and moved to the next room.

For a second Ruby started to move towards the next room then quickly turned around and pulled the unmarked switch down. But nothing happened…

'Well… I guess that's why it wasn't marked.' Ruby shrugged and walked to the next room.

The next room was much more square and only had a single training Dummy on the far side of the room. Ruby was a bit confused as to what the puzzle in this room was.

"As a human living in the underground, Monsters may attack you." Ruby was about to ask Toriel what she meant by 'living in the underground'. But Toriel's worried expression stopped Ruby's questions.

"You will need to be ready for this situation." Ruby smiled and realized that Toriel didn't know how awesome Ruby really was. "Worry not! The process is simple." Ruby started to roll her shoulders knowing what Toriel was going to say next.

'She's going to say **f** i **g** h **t** off the monster until she can deal with it just like Flowey…' Ruby frowned when she thought about the small flower. 'Why would he attack me anyways… And more importantly why would he steal my present?'

"Stall for time. And I will resolve the conflict." Ruby realized that she should probably pay attention to Toriel so she didn't feel bad. "Practice talking to the Dummy."

'What?' Ruby looked confused as Toriel moved next to the Dummy. It was clear she was waiting for Ruby to talk to the Dummy.

Ruby slowly walked up to the Dummy and looked at it. Ruby glanced at Toriel and back at the Dummy.

"…."

Ruby looked at the ground and then back at the Dummy's face. 'I don't know what to say…'

"…"

"….."

Ruby continued to hate the forced social interaction. Just like every other interaction she ever had with other people.

"…"

"…"

'I could just punch it like Yang would… But that could make Toriel mad at me.' Ruby decided to remain an anti-social Butterfly.

"…"

"…."

Toriel was about to say something to encourage Ruby but the Dummy apparently tired of Ruby's silence and floated away.

"…" Toriel lost all focus in her eyes. Ruby meanwhile just sighed in relief that it was over. Ruby turned to look at Toriel and noticed her blank expression.

"…" Toriel looked at the spot where the Dummy was then back at Ruby then back at the space. Toriel raised and eye brow clearly bewilder by the whole experience.

"Um Sorry-"

"The Next Room Awaits!" Toriel quickly ran out of the room before Ruby could even finish her sentence.

"…" Ruby follows Toriel.

The next room seemed to be more rectangular and connect to another room from a hallway. There was a seemingly random path in the middle of the room.

"There is another Puzzle in this room… I wonder if you can solve it?" Toriel smiled as Ruby started looking around the room for anything finite details. After a moment Ruby realized that the puzzle probably relates to the connected room.

As Ruby walks to the next room and out of Toriel's view she hears a croaking noise. Ruby looks around for a moment and sees what looks like a white frog jumping towards her.

' **Look out it's a Froggit.'**

'Oh no!' Ruby panicked for a second but she quickly calmed down. "Just talk to it until Toriel notices."

' **What if Toriel doesn't notice? Then I guess you'll have to… Improvise.'**

"Shut up conscience!" Ruby yelled and the Froggit turned its head quizzically. It didn't seem to understand what Ruby said but took it as a complement. The Froggit was flattered by Ruby's complement.

Just then Toriel showed up and both girl and monster frog looked at Toriel. Toriel narrowed her eyes at the monster and it hopped away.

'…'

"Thanks Tori." Ruby gave grin and a thumps up at Toriel. She looked like she was about to say something but stopped herself. After a nod she continued to the next room and Ruby followed.

This room had a moat next to the walls and everywhere there should have been land there were spikes sticking out of the floor. The only non-spiked part of the floor was two wooden bridges that would let someone walk over the water.

"Well this seems like a huge difficulty spike! _"_ Toriel chuckled a bit at Ruby's joke.

'… **really.'**

'Yang's jokes are starting to rub off on me… again.'

'…'

Toriel turned to Ruby. "This is the puzzle, but…" Toriel looked back at the spikes covering the ground and then back to Ruby.

'No…' Ruby knew that face. She had first seen it when her dad agreed to take her down a water slide when she was 7. But once they got to the top he realized that it was an almost 50 foot drop and walked her back down.

"Here take my hand for a moment."

'I was right!'

Toriel took Ruby's hand and started to walk her towards the spikes. Once Toriel got close to the spikes, the ones in front of her sunk back into the earth allowing the two to walk forward. Ruby kept pace with Toriel silently pouting that she wouldn't get to figure out another puzzle. After some seemingly pointless turns in what was clearly a not so difficult puzzle the two crossed the other wooden bridge and walked into the next room.

The next room was just a super log hallway. It was so long Ruby couldn't even see the other end of the hallway. Toriel let go of Ruby's hand and turned to look at the little red hooded girl.

"You have done excellently thus far, Ruby." Toriel complement made Ruby's bashfulness reappear. "However I have a difficult request to ask of you."

Ruby tilted her head similar to the Froggit's. "… I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself." And with that Toriel took off and started running down the hallway.

"heh." Ruby chuckled for two reasons. One reason was because of the easiness of this 'puzzle'. The second reason was that Ruby could run over 50 miles an hour at a normal jog. Ruby started to run taping into her semblance for a speed boost so she could catch up to Toriel.

But nothing happened.

Ruby stopped when she realized she wasn't going 50+ miles per hour. Ruby's first thought was that she had lost her semblance.

"I lost my semblance… wait can a person lose their semblance?" Ruby started to walk through the long hallway as she thought. "I feel fine, so it couldn't be my aura… could it?" Ruby reached around her 'tool belt' and pulled out her scroll. She turned it on and opened the aura app.

The app was hardwired into every scroll and was often used to help people not used to their Aura levels rate the levels until used to them. While Ruby had her aura unlocked when she was 8 she still wasn't used to it.

Taiyang had told her that, "Aura is an extension of your body and Soul. It helps defend you and helps power your semblance. But it's not a leg, it is a crutch. Don't use it all in one go unless you know you can rest up afterwards."

"Guess dad was right…" Ruby looked at her app telling her that her aura was under 5%. "I guess I can't use my semblance until I get some rest; luckily my body feels like it's at good 95 percent!" Ruby punched the air as she continued to walk down the long hallway.

"I wonder how I lost so much Aura to begin with though-"

' **Petal punch.'**

"Right." Ruby remembered how she had ran down, sideways and up the Cavepit to punch that ghost in the face. "That plus fighting Flowey would probably drop my aura by a ton."

Ruby stopped talking to herself when she saw the end of the hallway ahead of her. Before Ruby could reach the end of the hallway Toriel stepped out from behind a pillar Ruby didn't notice.

"Greeting, Ruby." Toriel smiled. "Do not worry I did not leave you." Ruby frowned at her words. "I was merely behind this pillar the whole time."

'On the other end of a long hallway…' Ruby scratched the back of her head.

"Thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise… it was to test your independence." Ruby was about to say something but stopped herself.

"No problem Tori." Ruby didn't have the heart to tell her that she had spent an entire day alone in the woods a few months ago as one of Qrow's tests.

"Now, I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while." Toriel looked a little sad as she spoke. Ruby on the other hand had stars in her eyes.

'Adventure!' Ruby practically squealed in her mind.

"Please remain her it is dangerous to explore by yourself." Ruby's adventuring heart almost shattered. "I have an idea." Ruby's heart mended in anticipation. "I will give you a cellphone."

"You'll sell me a what?" Ruby never heard of this 'Sellphone' before. Toriel gave Ruby what looked like a small thick black rectangular shaped… thing. "Thanks…?"

"If you have a need for anything, just call. Alright?" Ruby looked up at Toriel the gears spinning going into overdrive.

"Yep, stay here got yeah." Ruby gave a thumps up and Toriel smiled. She walked out of the room and Ruby stood there for a few minutes and walked out the same way Toriel just exited. "I guess this is a good time to test my independence."

The new room had two piles of leaves and two other exits that probably lead to other parts of the ruins. Ruby also figured that this Room similar to the Dummy's and the Hallway room this room didn't have a puzzle in it.

*Ring…*

Ruby's 'Sellphone' made a small ringing noise. Ruby yipped and quickly pulled out the Sellphone.

*Ring…*

Ruby frowned and decided to shake the odd black rectangle. The effort proved to be the correct one as the Sellphone flipped open and Toriel's voice came out of the now thinner and longer black rectangle.

"Hello? This is Toriel." Toriel sounded a bit concerned.

"Hi Toriel… How are you doing?" Ruby tried for an upbeat voice.

"I am fine Ruby. Ruby, you have not left the room have you?"

"Nah."

"Ok." Toriel spoke in her own upbeat voice now. "There are a few puzzles ahead I have yet to explain." Ruby's eyes filled with stars again. "It would be dangerous to try to solve them for yourself. Be good alright?"

"Oh wait." Ruby quickly spoke up stopping Toriel from turning off the phone.

"Yes Ruby? What is it?"

"Do you know how long you'll be? Until you come back?"

"I should only be a few hours or so. Finding the cake recipe should only-" Toriel's voice then trailed off.

"Ok 3 or 4 hours got it." Ruby hid her giggles so Toriel wouldn't pick up on it.

"Alright, be good."

*Beep*

Ruby closed the 'Sellphone' and did a little happy dance. "This is awesome, I'll mess around in the ruins a bit then I'll come back to hallway room and wait for Toriel."

Ruby grinned and was about to walk through the closest passage way but before she could a Froggit hopped out and looked up at Ruby. Ruby froze as she and the frog monster looked back at each other.

Ruby wasn't sure it was the same Froggit that she met before or not. It sure looked like it. The only difference was a small black hat on its large head.

"Hello Human." The Froggit's rumbled voice surprised Ruby.

"You can talk?!" Ruby crouched down so she could look closer at the Froggit.

"It is thanks to you that I can. For you see your words ignited in me a passion to learn common." The Froggit's tongue pulled out a diploma. "And now I've graduated top of my class and taught my friends common as well."

" **0_0"**

"Well…" Ruby tried to think up an appropriate response. "Now that you understand me what's your name? My name is Ruby."

*Rippit*

"Sorry second language, you can call me Froggit." Ruby smiled at the irony.

"Heh isn't that the name of your… um… population of monsters?"

"I believe the word you're looking for is species and yes my parents named me that because they felt like I should be the role mottle the Froggit race."

"That's cool Froggit." Ruby rose to her full height. "I'm going to play around with the puzzles for a bit in the Ruins. Do you want to come along?"

Froggit shook his head. "No I'm scared of what that woman will do to me if she sees me hanging out with you. No offence."

"None taken." After seeing what Toriel did to Flowey she couldn't blame Froggit. "I guess I'll see you around." Ruby started to walk away waving goodbye.

"Oh one more thing," Ruby stopped. "If you meet other monsters in the Ruins please don't hurt them. All monsters have some MERCY in them and I'm sure if you just get to know them you'll make them your friend."

Ruby winked at her frog friend. "Ok." Ruby waved goodbye as she walked down a passage way, and into a new room. Froggit started to hop down the long hallway.

After a few seconds Ruby walked out of the new room. The room was just a dead end that had a bowl of candy lying around. Kinda like lazy Halloween people that didn't want to meet all the kids in the night.

" **And just like on Halloween…"** Ruby juggled 3 pieces of monster candy with one hand. **"I get as much candy as I want."** Ruby popped one into her mouth and spat it out. **"Blarg! Who makes a non-licorice Flavored candy?!"**

* * *

 **And done for Chapter 2 like I said before thank you to all the people who read, favorited and followed the story so far, and if you haven't then you must have a good reason. I mean your at the end of the equivalent of the 3rd chapter so I'll let you keep doing what your doing.**

 **Also I wanted to help people understand what Chara's roll is in this story as I've seen some confusion about what's going on. 1st Chara's roll will be explained in story before Ruby leaves the Ruins. So for people who don't know Who (Or what) Chara is It will be explained. 2nd Chara is an important character for this story, I know it says first child on the character list and she was the reason Ruby fell into the underground after all, and yes that is Chara talking whenever Bolded text in shown. Finally what is Chara?... Well (in this story at least) Chara is more like a parasite that latches onto young human souls. *Nightmare fuel***

 **Now for a new question. (Note you can still respond to the last question just that this is also something I'm curious weather people know or not) Do you know of a character named _W. D. Gaster_? And If you know of him...**


	4. Chapter 3: Purity of the Populace

**Man 84 followers and over 500 views I personally never believed that this would be anything like this, And I haven't even gotten to Napstablook yet! I'm also happy that apparently everyone knows who W. D. Gaster is which is good... I think. Anyway here is chapter 3 (or 4 if you count the prologue). This one took a bit longer as this chapter (Spoiler for the thing your about to read) focuses on one my favorite characters in Undertale.**

 **Chara**

 **Now something things I feel I need to say just so you know going into this. First, Chara will probably not act like your head cannon of Chara, The reason I say this is because Chara is a very fan-base character and in the game was maybe 20-ish canon lines in the game to build a personality around. So expect some OOC-ness I guess. Second, is that When Chara speaks its they speak in Bold text, the reason for this will become clear later on (I hope). Third, Chara is kept gender neutral because I don't want the fan base getting angry at me for calling Chara a girl. (Even though if I had to pick a gender I'd say female.**

 **Oh and I don't own RWBY and Undertale but you know that already.**

* * *

Chara was annoyed to say the least. Although in hindsight their plan had followed the 3 primary steps.

Step 1, wait for a soul (in a body) to wonder close to the breach in the barrier.

Step 2, Attack and poses said human.

Step 3, Well… Chara actually hadn't thought that far ahead. But she knew that it should end with blood.

So when Chara felt a 'burst' of energy in Mt. Ebott they instantly investigated. What the ghost found was a small human girl running in circles in one of the caves. Chara was having a hard time keeping track of the girl as she was moving at almost hyper sonic speeds.

The girl in question couldn't see Chara because they kept themselves invisible to the naked eye. But it seemed that she was focusing on something else.

' **Not what I was expecting…'** Just then the girl seemed to pull out a gigantic Scythe out of no were and she made a full 90 degree turn using the Scythe's blade. Then she bolted forward and off a ramp like rock and crashed into an opening at the top of the cave.

With the girl now 'still' Chara could actually see what the ghost's new body actually looked like. The kid's skin was a bit pail, her red cloak seemed a bit too big, and her body was a bit thin but in great shape for what Chara assumed was a 10 year old girl.

Chara then noticed that under the girl was a pile of vines and under that pile of vines was the breach in the barrier that allowed beings to enter the Underground. Chara's smile widened. **'But she's perfect.'** As the girl fell Chara loosened the vines that she would fall on.

' **First she falls…'** The girl hit the vines and started to sink into the Cavepit along with the pile of vines.

' **Next she'll cry…'** Chara started to hear squeals of panic as the girl realize she was going down. **'But nobody will come…'** Chara noticing the Scythe the girl used earlier and the ghost kicked it as far away from the pit as possible.

' **Then, She dies.'** Chara's smile widened along with her blood red eyes. **'And Finally,'**

 **" !"**

But just as the last vine snapped and the vines fell the girl managed to jump and grab onto the wall of the pit. **'Squirm all you want…'** Chara chuckled as she noticed the wall the girl was holding on to stared to break.

' **Just a bit more now-'**

Before Chara could finish her monologue, the Scythe that they kicked away fell into the Cavepit and somehow wedged itself into the wall of the pit. Then to make things worse the girl noticed that she was right under the Scythe.

' **No…'** Chara's eyes bolted to where the ghost kicked the Scythe. **'WHO DID THAT!?'** The ghost child's gaze locked with another ghostly being.

This ghost's form resembled a skeleton with its Skull broken around the eyes and it wore a pure black lab coat that covered the rest of its body. Its mouth resembled a tired smile, or an insane one. Its eye sockets were looking at the pit not even noticing Chara's outburst.

Chara thinking quickly reached out and grabbed one of the red petals that the girl seemed to leave around the room when she ran.

' **I've waited for too long!'** Chara's anger almost crushed the delicate petal **. 'And I'm not letting you mess it all up!'**

"…"

The ghost skeleton didn't move as Chara used their own energy for one last effort. Chara tried to create a clone form of the girl's body from the petals, and it hurt trying to do that.

Chara had never done something like this before. But she was determined to take that girl's body and make this world and any others like it pay!

" **Heh…"** Chara cracked the fake knuckles as the girl now trying to shimmy along her Scythe looked up.

" **Hey Kiddo."**

* * *

" **Yes…"** Chara had hit ground first. On the plus side there was a pile of vines to break there fall. But just to be safe Chara hopped out of the fake body and it dissolved into red petals.

Chara only had to wait a few moments for the girl's unconscious body to fall on the same pile of vines and rose petals.

" **I did it!"** Chara couldn't believe it. **"I… I can... I can finally take revenge!"** Chara bounced with 'joy.' **"Ok focus!"** Chara snapped themselves out of it and started to draw itself into the girl's body.

So after focusing for a minute Chara managed to weave itself into the girl's body with surprising efficiency. And about a minute later Chara was in the girl's body's driver's seat.

" **Ok… let's start off simple…"** Chara searched the girl's empty mind for a name. **"Ruby, open your eyes."**

Nothing happened.

Chara's smile suppressed their anger as they 'unbuckled' themselves from the driver's seat to see what was wrong. Chara looked around the equivalent of Ruby's mindscape but couldn't see anything that would be out of the ordinary.

For a kid that is.

Ruby's mindscape was mostly shaped like a preschool playground. However surrounding the playground was a thick and dark forest and through the forest Chara could see what looked like a tombstone resting on a steep cliff.

When Chara didn't see anyone playing on the playground or lost in the forest they jumped over to the tombstone as it was the only other landmark in the mindscape. Chara looked down at the Stone marked with a rose.

Chara assumed that this was what was left of Ruby's soul in the mindscape. **'Why can't I control your body?'** Chara was about to punch the stone but then Chara sensed something nearby.

"…"

" **Dang it get out of here!"** Chara yelled at the Skeleton ghost who was standing a few feet away.

It was just standing looking down at the rose tombstone. Because it's black cloak covered everything but its head, it gave the illusion that it's cracked head was floating a few feet off the ground.

The other ghost was just looking down but Chara assumed that it must be responsible for Ruby's body not responding to Chara's commands. Chara grumbled and marched over clearly agitated.

" **I SAID GET OUT OF-"**

"Odd…"

The other ghost cut Chara off not even looking away. Chara was almost impressed that after what they assumed was centuries of silence the other ghost finally decided to speak.

Almost.

" **What the wing ding is that supposed to mean?!"** Chara complained. **"Unless you're talking about yourself then keep on insulting yourself. But do it out of my body!"** The skeleton turned its head to look down at Chara.

"You tried to force an odd number…" a single skeletal right hand pushed out of the black cloak and stretched out 2 fingers. "Each being has a body and soul…" Chara stood there with a mix of anger and curiosity. "And you messed that up."

Chara smiled. **"What are you rambling about? I made sure Ruby used up the last of her aura when I was fighting her."** Chara was thankful that they didn't mess up Ruby's face to badly when she was slammed into the Cavepit's wall over and over again. **"And now that her soul has shattered, I finally have a body."**

"False." Chara's eyes flashed in anger.

" **WHAT!"**

"You lost the fight, you can't move this body, Ruby isn't dead," Another right hand emerged from the darkness, this one held a small red heart.

Recognizing the heart as Ruby's soul Chara quickly lunched for it.

*BAM*

Chara was slammed into a tree by the ghost's free hand as it rattled the heart in the other hand. "And I'm pretty sure she still has about 8% of her aura left." The skeleton turned to look at the rose tombstone. "So your statements are false."

" **SHUT YOUR FLAPPER!"**

Chara exploded the nearby trees with their anger. They wanted to kill the ghost. They wanted to punch it. They wanted to blow it up. They needed a new tactic.

Chara cleared their throat. **"…May I have Ruby's Soul… please?"** Chara forced out the words but the ghost kept its back to them when it answered.

"One body and one soul…" Chara made a fist in frustration but quickly regained their cool.

" **What do you mean by that?"**

"It should be impossible but somehow… this soul can take extra souls existing in it…" The ghost's head creepily turned its head to look at Chara. "Kind of like you… only natural, not artificial." A ring of fire appeared around Chara to highlight their anger at the other ghost's words.

" **Shut it."** While their voice sounded calm it was very clear how much anger was in Chara's words.

Bloody and burning anger glared back at the tired or insane calmness.

The skeleton ghost shrugged. "My point, is that if you tried to control this body now," its smile seemed to grow. " _You would have a hard time_ … to say the least."

" **I'd have a hard time?"** Chara wanted to laugh but didn't. **"Try m-"**

Before Chara could say anything else they were thrown back into the 'driver seat' of Ruby's mind. Chara could still tell that Ruby's body wouldn't respond to any commands though.

"This," Chara was able to see that the skeleton ghost was still standing in front of them. "Could be fun to watch," And it let go of the red heart that was Ruby's soul. "Or it could be sad…"

Almost instantly the soul dove right into the same 'driver's seat' that Chara occupied. And it hurt.

" **H!"**

Every one of Chara's molecule were trying to adapt to Ruby's soul as it started to reattach itself back into its body. Only Chara was trying to contain the soul.

' **This shouldn't be that hard-'** Just then Chara was sure if it still had a real stomach it would have thrown up. **"No!"** Chara could tell that they had lost the battle for control of Ruby's body.

But not the war.

Chara's vision focused on the Skeleton Ghost that was still just standing and watching. **"Don't think for a second you've won Gaster…"** Chara chuckled as the mindscape started to disappear and Ruby started to wake up.

"Your right, I didn't win." Gaster started to fade away his eyes sockets gleamed pure white. "I just started a title wave." And then Ruby woke up.

From that point on Chara was for all intents was simply a passenger, and they hated it.

They hated when Ruby woke up and had not even one scratch on her and how they meet some yellow flower monster and befriended it in almost an instant. It made Chara sick. So sick in fact that they just started to block out what Ruby was doing.

Chara retreated to a 'room' of Ruby's mind that was covered in red. Red walls, Red celling, Red rug, Red well there wasn't really anything else in there other than that.

" **Not to full of a mind."** Chara said offhandedly as they walked into the red room. Then they heard something like background noise that Chara could swear was a beating heart. **"But you do have a healthy soul."**

Chara continued to focus on the heart and instantly they were in a darkroom. This room while mostly similar to the other room had one object that made Chara's eyes widen.

The red heart that was Ruby's soul, it was right in Chara's reach. But they didn't reach for it.

" **Heh…It's probably going to hurt me if I touch it right?"** Chara expected Gaster to appear and then reply, but no one was in the room other than Chara. **"Oh come on?"** Chara frowned as the heart's beating noise seemed to escalate.

Almost like Ruby was having a panic attack.

" **Eh, What the heck?"** Chara reached out and tried to grab the heart, and they were able to hold it just fine. **"Ok, what is going on hehehehehehehehehehehere?"** Chara blinked as the ghost struggled to control its own voice. It felt like the soul just tried to compensate for Chara's presence.

" **That was odd-"** Chara stopped and looked down at the small heart now beating frantically **. "Odd, 2 souls and 1 body…"**

Chara felt like they were on the edge of something when almost like a lightning bolt's flash, Chara wasn't in the room. They were in pure darkness still holding onto Ruby's soul.

The only sensation that Chara could experience was the ability to hear all other senses just stopped. **"W-at- g-in- o-?"** Chara's voice was acting up again as other voices started broadcasting at max volume.

"AH!"

" _Oh and don't worry about your weapon…I'll take good care of it for you. Along with your soul."_

Chara recognized the scream as Ruby's but the second voice while unknown was clearly hostel. Then Chara realized that if Ruby were to die they could both die; and Chara wasn't about to die without the ability to reset again.

' **I** **C** a **n'** t **D** i **e**!' then all of Chara's senses returned and they were in control of Ruby's body, And it felt wonderful!

" **YES!"** Chara made a fist with Ruby's hand. **"I'm in control!"** Chara turned to a grinning yellow flower. **"Are you ready to die-"**

You know that feeling you get when you have a tree fall on top of you? That was the feeling Chara was having, then Chara's influence slipped as the ghost blacked out.

" **What- What happened?"** As Chara started to regain their senses they could tell they were in the 'back seat' of Ruby's mind again. Normally Chara would be angry but it only proved something Chara had been doubting for a bit. **"I can control this body… I just need the right moment."**

So Chara would wait until Ruby's mind slipped.

Unfortunately it didn't seem like it would be happening anytime soon as Ruby now seemed to have a new guardian that would be watching over Ruby. But that was only one reason that Chara didn't like the current situation.

Chara loathed Toriel… and it was beyond painful to have the chance to kill her so close. Every time Toriel would help Ruby, Chara wanted to kill a planet of puppies.

The ghost would talk to themselves about their hatred for the boss monster and other things they saw just to pass the time. And to their surprise Ruby reacted to their words. It was when Ruby ran into a Froggit and Chara comment that Ruby should attack the monster.

Ruby yelled. "Shut up conscience!" and Chara was taken back.

Of course Toriel came to the rescue and chased away the Froggit. But while one opportunity hoped away a whole new path opened up for Chara to have their fun.

But the icing on the cake was Toriel's mistake… letting **R** uby t **h** e R **u** i **n** s w **i** t **h** **o** n **l** y **on** e **gu** a **rd** i **an**.

* * *

Ruby was 64% sure that she was dreaming. "Take that!" Ruby threw another lump or dirt into the Beowolfs face. It's only response was a low growl as the dirt slid of its mask like face.

"Alright… now I'm a solid 70% sure." Ruby nodded to herself as she started to take in the odd surroundings this time with the firm idea that this was a dream.

Ruby was standing at the edge of her old pre-school playground that had a ton of kids playing on it. On the other side of the fence that bordered the playground was a line of Beowolfs. Only these Grimm seemed very content with just watching the playground.

That was the main 63% of the reason Ruby believed she was dreaming. The last 7% came from what the little reaper could see from behind the Grimm wall.

Behind the Beowolfs was a forest glowing with summer leaves and while it was hard to make out from this distance. Ruby was sure it was moms grave. That was a little comforting to Ruby.

'Still got my back…' Ruby kicked the dirt a bit wondering what she should do now.

"Hey Ruby!" A familiar voice made Ruby turn to see a blur of yellow jumping over the fence and tackle her to the ground. "How's it going Sis?"

"Yang!"

"What?"

"Get off of me!" Ruby's head popped out from under Yang who was sitting on top of Ruby smiling.

"Aww, But you look so cute in the dirt." Yang jumped up and helped Ruby to her feet. "See look at your little dirt covered nose." Yang continued to poke fun at Ruby's expense.

Yang was dressed exactly like the last time Ruby saw her. Which was around 4 in the morning so needless to say it felt weird that her older sister was in her PJs at her old school playground.

"This is defiantly a dream." Ruby brushed the dirt off her nose and Yang tilted her head to the side.

"What's a dream?"

"This…" Ruby motioned to everything around them. "Playground."

Yang put an arm around Ruby's shoulder and the sisters walked over to a swing set. "Here tell me your problems sis."

*One explanation about Qrow's test, the ghost attack, Flowey, Toriel and Ect. later*

"Wow…" Yang was fiddling with her hair as Ruby swung. "That's a lot of stuff I'm glad I don't have to deal with."

"Hey thanks sis…" Ruby frowned as she looked up at the clear night sky. "I wonder what you guys are doing right now."

"…Aren't we swinging?"

"No I mean like, what is the real Yang doing right now." Yang grumbled a bit and the dream double looked up to the stars along with Ruby.

Both sisters just swung as the kids and Grimm started to fade away leaving the duo alone in the now deserted playground. Ruby eventually turned her to look at Yang and Yang did the same.

"Anything else you want to get off your chest?" Yang winked. "I hear dreams are a great place t **o** d **o** **t** h **a** t. **"**

Ruby's expression changed from a neutral smile to near tears. "I don't know if I'll ever get to see you… or dad or Qrow or-" Almost instantly Ruby felt Yang's embrace around her. Yang's long blond hair covered Ruby's tears. "I might never get to tell mom that I'm becoming a huntress…"

"I **t'** s **o** k **…"** **Y** a **n** g comforted Ruby as the little girl situation crashed down on top of her all at once. Not just with the fact that she was underground with monsters but the fact that she could die alone.

"Yang?" Ruby's voice was weak but **Y** a **n** g moved so she wouldn't need to speak through blond hair. "Do you… Do you think-" Ruby's voice stopped when she noticed **Y** a **n** g's normal Lilac eyes were now Crimson Red.

" **Yeah?"** **Y** a **n** g smiled comfortingly at Ruby's slightly confused face. **"You can tell me anything Ruby."**

At first Ruby wanted to ask why **Y** a **n** g was angry; normally her Red eyes meant she was angry at something or someone. But Ruby decided to ask a different question instead.

"Can you tell me a story? Like when I'm about to fall to sleep."

For a millisecond **Y** a **n** g' **s** expression changed for loving and comforting to distant and cold. But not long enough for Ruby to notice.

" **Sure… Do you know the story of the pure village?"** Ruby frowned trying to remember all the stories she had heard over the years. **Y** a **n** g grinned at the 10 year olds 'thinking face'.

"Well, is it a scary story?" **Y** a **n** g' **s** grin only widened.

" **Oh come on what do you have to be scared about? You're already dreaming."** Ruby realized that she was right so Ruby shrugged and **Y** a **n** g took that to mean go ahead.

" **A long time ago when humanity was still living in scattered villages across the world and the creatures know as Grimm first started appearing and attacking people. A single village thought they found an answer to stop the Grimm."**

"Did it work?" Even though Ruby knew that if it did work then there wouldn't be any Grimm terrorizing people across Remnant today.

" **Well let me finish and you'll find out."** **Y** a **n** g ruffled Ruby's red hair. **"So the villagers found out that Grimm were attracted to the negative emotions broadcasted by people. So they theorized that if a group of people's negative emotions gathered Grimm, then a village of pure hearted people would repulse the Grimm."**

" **So the elders of that village casted a spell on all the people of the village. But they failed."**

"Knew it." Ruby had a somewhat smug smile and **Y** a **n** g only laughed at the girl in her arms.

" **What did I say about letting me finish?"** Ruby made the 'I'm locking up my mouth and throwing away the key' gesture. **"Good. Now the elders tried to figure out what went wrong."**

" **We must have miscalculated."**

" **We just need more practice."**

" **Salem is too weak to complete the spell."**

Ruby silently chuckled as Yang changed her voice to old men bickering voices. **"Anyway, they figured out that the problem was that once the negativity was removed from the people it would just go right back into the people of the village."**

" **So the elders came to a difficult decision."** Yang's voice wavered but kept telling **her** story. **"The elders decided to take an orphan that had no idea of the concepts of good and bad and they would use that child as a being who would hold all of the village's negative emotions."**

Ruby was shocked but kept quite so **Y** a **n** g could continue.

" **So when they casted the spell again it worked. The village was pure of all negative emotion… and the Orphan was cured with only negative emotions." Y** a **n** g's red eyes seemed to dull a bit. **"Then they would lock the Cured thing away in a cell as far away from the now pure village as possible."**

"That's terrible." Ruby whimpered and **Y** a **n** g' **s** grip around Ruby tightened. "Why would anyone do that to someone?"

" **Well, the jokes on them."** **Y** a **n** g laughed a little. **"You see when the person who was going to take the cursed orphan to the prison so it couldn't lure any Grimm into the village… the man made a strange discovery."** The red seemed too reignited in **Y** a **n** g' **s** eyes.

" **The Grimm where scared of the orphan. The Grimm were used to people only having a few negative emotions in them… But in one being there were hundreds of negatives. So when the man noticed this when he came across Grimm on his journey and decided to bring the Orphan back to tell the elders of the pure village."**

" **At first the elders didn't believe the man. But once he showed them how all the Grimm were paralyzed by the orphan's very presents."** Ruby felt the forest around them start to wilt. **"The elders came up with a new plan."**

" **They would keep the orphan to stop any Grimm from invading, and they would deposit any new negative emotions that the village had buildup be forced into the orphan every full moon."**

"That's… so sad." Ruby couldn't think of another word to describe it.

" **It's not sad, it was barbaric."** **Y** a **n** g muttered under her breath as Ruby thought.

"So… what was the point?" **Y** a **n** g looked down at Ruby clearly asking her to explain. "I mean what's the point of the story?"

" **Well…"** **Y** a **n** g flashed Ruby a smile. **"That's not the end of the story."** Ruby instantly Shut up and motioned for her to continue.

" **So after several season of the pure village growing and profiting, the village had a visitor. It was a maiden that seemed to leave the breeze of Summer were ever she went."** Ruby recognized the character from another story she had heard a million times before.

It was one of the maidens of the four seasons, just the hero the orphan would need.

" **The elders welcomed the Maiden and offered her a place in their village. But when she asked how the village citizens were so pure of heart the elders avoided answering her. So she found out on her own."**

" **And she found the orphan now a little over 10 years old and so overcome with negativity they couldn't even tell the difference between life and death. The maiden was horrified by what the 'pure' villagers had done to the child."**

" **She was so angry she almost wiped their village off the map. But instead she took the knowledge of how to cast the spell right out of the Elders heads. She also took the orphan away with her in an attempt to remove the negativity from its soul."**

"Well that's good." Ruby let out a sigh of relief.

" **But the maiden failed."** Ruby looked at **Y** a **n** g in shock. **"When the child was released from its cell in the village its negative influences made it wipeout the entire village and the cursed orphan almost killed the maiden as well. She screamed, cried and bled-"**

"Yang!" **Y** a **n** g stopped and looked down at a now shaking Ruby. "Please stop telling the story now." Yang busted out laughing at Ruby's response. "Don't laugh! Just… tell me the happy ending part."

" **Sorry, Sorry."** Yang stood up making Ruby get to her feet as well. **"The orphan ended up finding a place where they were accepted and loved."** **Y** a **n** g started to walk over to the fence and turned to look back at Ruby. **"Happy?"**

"No!" Ruby crossed her arms in anger. "Where did you even hear that story?" **Y** a **n** g shrugged sarcastically.

" **Around…"** **Y** a **n** g flashed an amused smile as Ruby turned around in anger. **"Hey Ruby,"**

"What Yang?" Ruby heard **Y** a **n** g start walking back over to her.

" **I think I've figured out a way to help you to get home."** **Y** a **n** g leaned on Ruby's head still smiling down on her younger sister.

"I already know Yang." **Y** a **n** g blinked in surprise. "But I can't run up the Cavepit."

" **What are you talking about?"** Ruby looked up at **Y** a **n** g.

"Well you know how my semblance is a speed boost right?"

" **Yeah…"**

"Well I can't use my semblance to run up the Cavepit I'll just fall back in." **Y** a **n** g rolled her eyes. "That's what you were about to say right?"

' **I swear,'** **Y** a **n** g stood up and pushed Ruby off her swing. **'I'm would break you face kid.'**

"Ow! Yang what was that for-" Ruby was about to face **Y** a **n** g but stopped when she felt a chill in the breeze. **Y** a **n** g noticed the chilling breeze as well.

" **It's getting cold…"** **Y** a **n** g out stretched a hand trying to figure out why it was snowing. Meanwhile Ruby wrapped her cloak around her for warmth.

"N- N- No D- D- Duh!" Ruby chatted as snow started to fall around the playground. "I hate dreams that put you in places with really inconvenient clothes."

" **What are you talking about- No listen that doesn't matter."** **Y** a **n** g walked over to Ruby and picked her off the ground. **"Ruby, listen to me."**

"O- Ok!" Ruby looked at **Y** a **n** g with the most 'serious' face she could muster in the cold. Yang smiled and ruffled Ruby's hair.

" **That's a good girl. Now I need you to close your eyes and focus on the world around you."** Ruby raised an eyebrow but figured she would play along.

"Ok…" Ruby closed her eyes and started hearing the snowflakes fall around her. "Now what?"

" **Now I want you to imagine your breaking the world down."**

"Alright…" Ruby felt the dream around her start to break. "Yang, I think I'm waking up."

" **No, you're going back."** Ruby felt **Y** a **n** g' **s** hand pinch her cheek. **"Partner."** Then the world shattered like glass.

(LINE BREAK)

"AH!" Ruby jumped back as she saw Yang shatter into trillions of pieces. "What?" Just then Ruby was able to tell that she was back in the ruins. "Where?"

"Are you ok?" Ruby looked down and saw Froggit with his little black hat still on top of his head. He was tilting his head as the monster stared back at Ruby waiting for her to answer his question.

"Um… huh?" Ruby was just confused. "Did I just wake up from a nap?"

"No…" Froggit looked a little confused. "You just walked into the room then I was about to introduce myself and then you screamed."

"What? No I'm pretty sure I was sleeping." Then the rest of Froggit's words went through Ruby's head. "What did you mean introduce? I already met you… three times now."

"You must have me confused with one of my fellow Froggit-"

"Nope. You're the Froggit that was inspired by my words… and then you learned… common while I walked the length of a single hallway." Now that Ruby said that out loud she wondered if she just dreamt up that bit.

 ***** Rippit Rippit*

Ruby didn't speak Rippit but she could tell she had just blown up the monster's mind.

"How did you know that?" The Froggit asked with a mix of curiosity and astonishment. "I was getting ready to present to you how you revolutionized my whole life-"

"Along with how you taught all the other Froggit's to speak common as well." Ruby said on reflex.

*Rippit Rippit Rippit*

"…Um, I can't speak-"

"Exactly!" The Froggit started to jump back into the room it had jumped out from earlier. "I must push my life to new heights so I can achieve the level of knowledge you have obtained!"

"What? Wait stop!" But Ruby fell down as Froggit quickly hoped away. "Right, can't use my semblance." Ruby groaned as she got to her feet and dusted herself off.

'How did I know what Froggit was about to say?' Then another thought made it's way into Ruby's mind. Almost like someone whispered it into her ear.

" **You Went Back In Time. You Have The Power Of A God."**

Ruby recognized the voice. " **Y** a **n** g?"

Chara wanted to giggle with glee. **"Don't worry Ruby, I'll be here."**

"Ok… Thanks." Ruby smiled and started to walk deeper into the ruins.

" **No problem. Sis."**

* * *

' _She has my power!'_ Flowey grumbled as he watched Ruby walk off deeper into the ruins.

After hiding Ruby's weapon Flowey decided to follow the red hooded girl to see if she in deed stole his power to go back in time. A power that made Flowey feel pretty angry without it.

He kept his distance watching, studying, and loathing Ruby as she was guided by Toriel throughout the ruins. But things got interesting once Ruby was alone.

The reason why it became interesting was because of what Flowey could recall. At first all he could remember was Ruby running into a Froggit, Ruby being very confused for some reason, the Froggit hoping off and after a while Ruby walked off into the ruins.

But under those memories where others. It took Flowey a bit of effort but he could remember a different set of events.

Ruby walked into the room, Froggit walked into the room, They had some boring conversation about MECRY, They both went their separate ways. But things got interesting when Ruby walked back into the room.

Her personality changed completely. Ruby was juggling monster candy, while walking with a strange bravado and laughing about something called Halloween. But something else was different that Flowey couldn't describe at first.

"It's her eye's!" Flowey shacked with anger. Those are Chara's eyes!"

Just then a thought popped into Flowey's mind and the flower grinned. The yellow flower disappeared into the ground and resurfaced at the opening of the barrier. Flowey looked up at the sunlight waiting for a shadow to pass by.

"It was a life time ago…" Flowey started muttering to himself. "But I'm pretty sure it's custom for kids to have a guardian guard them."

Just then the light blacked out for a second and instantly came back. Flowey grinned when he saw the light come back. "Kinda like that." Flowey prepared himself and popped into the ground.

Flowey was able to go anywhere in the underground, with some minor exceptions. But those were few and far between. However this was a task Flowey had never even considered before.

"AH!" Flowey was forced to stop when he hit the magical barrier that cut the underground off from the rest of the world. "I've crossed you before!" Flowey slammed back into the barrier. "I only need to cross for a minute!"

Flowey's determination slammed into the barrier and it didn't seem too impressed. Then Flowey was on the surface again. Flowey was in a lot of pain but he just grinned.

"I'm out-" Flowey was cut off by a torrent of magical energy racked his body. _"GHA!"_ Flowey waited for the energy to pass and when it did he was breathing heavily. "The barrier is forcing me back! But I'm not done here yet!"

Flowey was able to tell that he was in some sort of empty cave system. What Flowey was looking for in this system was a person.

"THERE!"

Flowey dug back into the earth and popped back up in another part of the cave. This cave had an opining at the top and the bottom. "This is probably where that girl fell in," Flowey poked his head over the edge of the pit. "Now where is her guardian?"

"You mean me?" Qrow glared at the yellow flower from the shadows.

* * *

 **And Close for chapter 3.**

 **Now time to for me to explain how Flowey is able to cross the barrier.**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Because he can. Nah. The reason I'm going for is that he technically doesn't have a soul, so he could pass through the barrier for a small amount of time. So don't worry Flowey will still come back... Qrow on the other hand...**

 **So as always leave a review to tell me what you think about the chapter and what not. Also don't leave follow/Favorite this because you clearly don't want to if your on chapter 3. So... go here instead; watch?v=XyGn69k58wc**

 **And for the question this time is How do you (personally) pronounce this word, _Chara_. See I pronounce it like this (Car-uh) like the sound you make when your hit by a car, But I do know it has a few other pronunciations people use. Like: (K-ara) or (Ch-ar-uh) so tell me how you pronounce that word in a Review, PM, or in person. Whatever floats your boat.**

 **P.G.P. out for January!**


	5. Chapter 4: Outlaws in Ruin

_**Hey look I made a new outline for myself, Bold + Italic + Underlined. Also Stay Determined has 100+ Followers which is just epic, I Never believed that a story with such an odd match up like this would have any followers but you guys proved me wrong. Also sorry this took so long to type out I got a huge case of The Lazy for a bit but I'd like to think Quality is more important than speed of release.** _

_**Now time to address a ton of stuff I feel like I need to because people keep PMing me or writing it in the reviews and even though I do read all the feed back given to me, I don't want to answer every person individually.  
**_

 _ **So 1st is why I'm writing the story as I am and not like how the game Undertale goes frame by frame. Well it's because you already know the story of Undertale. I can safely bet that everyone who is reading this story has explored Undertale's lore to some amount. (Especially if you've been around the FNAF theory sites in the past year.) So I am writing the story in a different manor so you don't know what to expect.  
**_

 _ **2nd this chapter is mostly going to be Ruby finishing exploring the Ruins and set up for the 'boss' of the ruins. The reason for this is I wanted a chapter where Ruby and Chara (using Yang's voice) get used to each other.**_

 _ **3rd I don't own Ruby and Undertale... and RWBY's volume 3 finally made me cry :'(**_

 _ **4th The next chapter (Is planned) to be a two parter and hopefully finished and out by mid March.**_

 _ **5th you guys know that when I say Yang's voice you know that I'm referring to the fact that Ruby is hearing Yang's voice but its really Chara talking right? Ok awesome, knew I didn't have to tell you guys something so trivial.**_

 _ **6th The Guest that pointed out my reference to a character named Salem in Chara's backstory... your not that far off.**_

 _ **Anyway, on with the Story!**_

* * *

For the most part the puzzles in the ruins weren't that challenging, almost like they were built for beginner problem solvers. Case and point this room's puzzle, Pushing rocks.

" **You know three out of four gray rocks recommend you push them."** **Y** a **n** g **'s** disembodied voice didn't take the look of discontent off Ruby's face.

This room had a large rock a few feet away from a large button. A few feet away from that button was a 'river' and single bridge. All along the bridge were 2 foot tall spikes.

The way to solve the puzzle was way too easy in Ruby's opinion.

"Yeah…" Ruby walked over to the rock and started pushing it towards the button. "It's just not a challenge, you know?"

" **I see that."** Yang's tone was layered with sarcasm. **"But how else are you going to progress?"**

Ruby stopped pushing the rock and walked over towards a 'river' that was suposed to make her finish the puzzle. Before Yang could question what Ruby was doing then Ruby crossed over the river and onto the other side effortlessly. The water barely came past Ruby's boots. If Chara had a way of showing physical expressions she would be dumbfounded.

"That's what I'd do." Ruby walked back over the 'river' and finished pushing the rock onto the button. Ruby heard something click and the spikes on the bridge retreated under the bridge.

" **Wha?"** Yang muttered still dumbfounded as Ruby walked into the next room. **"Wait!"** Ruby stopped.

"Yes?" Ruby asked innocently. Yang was about to say something but noticed something was moving towards Ruby before she could say anything.

" **Look out for that Moldsmal."** Ruby looked around and spotted what reminded Ruby of a pile of Jello moving towards her. It seemed to be pulsating every time it moved.

'Creepy.' Ruby thought as the Moldsmal started to make its way over towards her. Ruby was ready to dash around it but remembered what Froggit had said about showing Mercy to the monsters she ran into. "Well at least there's only one of you guys." Ruby mentally prepared herself to try and talk to the living Jello.

" **Oh wait there's 2 more."** Yang said offhandedly and Ruby noticed two more pulsated themselves out of the wall. **"Oh, and don't let them touch you or they'll dissolve your body for food."**

"Um…" Ruby couldn't tell whether or not Yang was kidding or not. 'Come to think about it how does Yang even know about the monsters here?' Ruby took a few steps away from the Moldsmals slow approach.

The Moldsmals stopped when they noticed that Ruby was purposefully avoiding them. They started to move closer towards each other and stopped when they arranged themselves so each Jello could be the point of a Triangle.

"What are they doing?" Ruby started to walk forward a bit so she could get a better look. "Hey what are you three doing?"

" **They can't talk you know."** Ruby pouted at Yang's negativity but waited patiently for the Moldsmals to finish doing whatever it was they were trying to do. **"Their primary way of communication is pulsating and only a Moldsmal could hope to understand-"**

"But they can also form into shapes right?" Ruby's question cut Yang off. The spirit pretending to be Yang looked at Ruby with disappointment despite the fact that they were just cut off.

" **No they can't… Why would you ask that?"**

"Because that's what they're doing right now." Ruby pointed to the 3 Moldsmals. Each monster had rearranged themselves into different letters of the alphabet. Every few seconds the letters would change.

C A N

Y O U

H E L

P U S

Yang was silent and Ruby scratched her hair. "Um… sure I'll help, What's wrong?" Yang snorted.

" **They could be hungry and want some food."**

"Eww! Yang shut up." Ruby could swear she heard Yang shrug.

The Moldsmals started to reform into three different outlines. Chara realized that these outlines were figures that she had seen before. Ruby however misinterpreted the images.

"Outlaws." Ruby's eyes filled with stars. "Their outlaws- No wait… Monster outlaws!"

" **How do you know about outlaws?"**

"Didn't I tell you this before?" Ruby mentally scorned Yang. "Well sometimes the missions I would go on with Uncle Qrow involved us hunting down some outlaws." Ruby tried to remind Yang. "Remember I told you one time it ended with an epic western show down?"

Chara was silently think of a response that wouldn't tip Ruby off to the fact that they weren't Yang. **"Oh right, sorry I forgot."**

"Oh no problem Yang." Chara let out a sigh as Ruby redirected her attention to the Moldsmals. "Now then let's see these monster outlaws that terrorized these pour monsters."

The first Moldsmal made a shape that reminded Ruby of a large carrot. The only feature that made the monster different from a carrot was a large smile and pointy eyes.

" **That looks like a Vegetoid."** Ruby nodded and looked on the next out line.

The Next Moldsmal had a slightly more complicated design. The outline looked kind of like a bug with small little pincers at the corners of its mouth.

" **Now that is a Migosp if I've ever seen one."** Ruby grimaced a little as she wasn't to found of bug like things. But she sucked it up and looked at the last outline.

The last Moldsmal had formed into a monster that was mostly circular. It had two thin arms and legs with claws at the end, and right in the center of its circular body was a single large eye.

" **And a Loox, well this is starting to get interesting."** Ruby nodded satisfied with the knowledge of who she was about to stop. **"Let's get going and stop these bad guys."**

"Yeah. Don't worry; I'll stop these outlaws from hurting anymore innocent monster!" Ruby jumped over the Moldsmals and started towards the next room. For effect Ruby made a fist and put it up in the air as she walked away.

' **This is perfect!'** Chara chuckled to themselves. **'Ruby's sense of 'justice' will force her to confront these monsters. And she won't be able to keep up her goody two shoe act if she's forced into a battle… But I'll be here to tell her that the only way is-'**

"Oh one more thing!" Ruby turned around and ran back to the three Moldsmals. "What did those monsters do exactly?" Ruby looked between the three Jello-like monsters and they started to respond.

T H E

Y P I

C K E

D O N

U S !

"Wait…" Ruby narrowed her eyes. "So their just bullies then?"

Y E P

"Awww." Ruby's excitement at the idea of getting to stop outlaws broke to pieces. The Moldsmals started to form more words so they could ask what was wrong.

"No!" Ruby's confidence reignited. "It doesn't matter what the problem is, I will always help those who need it!" The Moldsmals made little plop noises that Ruby took to be clapping. Ruby grinned and started to walk away from the monsters with her fist in the air trying to hide her disappointment.

" **Well… what's your plan now?"**

Ruby waited until she was out of the Moldsmals point of view before responding. After Ruby walked into the next room she immediately slumped over in a depressed manor.

"I have no idea." Ruby's voice matched her stance. "I mean I'm fine with fighting outlaws, but stopping bullies from picking on other monster…"

" **What are you scared of big bullies?"**

"Of course not," Ruby frowned and sat down. "I just hoped that fighting some outlaws would put me in a better mood is all…" Ruby dug up some dirt and threw it at a wall. The wall didn't seem to get any dirtier.

" **That's not true,"** Chara could feel Ruby's emotions, and disappointment was not one of them. **"What's really bothering you Sis?"**

"I just don't know if I can take it." Chara would have rolled their eyes. They thought Ruby had gotten this all out of her when she was dreaming.

" **But that's what I'm here for-"**

"No your part of it Yang!" Ruby's outburst stopped Chara's attempt at calming her down. Ruby pulled up her hood in an attempt to shut out the voice she thought was her sisters.

 **"…"** Chara was considering their options as Ruby started to whimper. **'If I want to keep my plan in motion I need to make sure Ruby trusts me…'** Chara growled. **'So I guess I'll have to be… kin-'** Chara almost vomited. **'I'll have to be… not mean if my plans going to work... for now.'**

" **So you hate me then?"** Ruby's whimpers stopped.

"No I- its just a lot to take in, And not just the Underground itself but what's going on with me." Ruby lifted her head and sniffled a bit. "I have the power to go back in time? That doesn't even make sense!"

" **Ruby I think that's just-"**

"And then I have my sister's voice in my head telling me stuff I don't even know how I would know." Ruby started shaking her head. "It's just… a lot to take in… again." Ruby looked up at the ceiling of the room. "And I don't know if I'll get to see the sun again."

Chara frowned. " **Get up."** Ruby frowned at the command. **"I said get up!"**

"Why? Toriel is coming back so I'll just wait for her here." Ruby crossed her arms determined to stay in that spot. "Then Toriel will take me back to Qrow-"Ruby was cut off by Yang's laughter. "What's funny?"

" **No she won't. Toriel bonds to kids to easily… it's by far her biggest flaw."** Ruby tried to ignore Yang's words. **"She'll keep you in the Ruins all your life, you'll never get to see anyone you love ever again."**

"No! Toriel wouldn't keep me here! She's-"

" **She's alone, and she wants you to make sure she's never alone. So she'll tell you that it's for your own good to stay with her. She'll say she's protecting you."** Ruby started to shake from the idea of her being trapped here for the rest of her life. **"Unless you get up and prove to her that you can deal with monsters all by yourself."**

"You- Your right?" Ruby rose to her feet. "Ever since I can remember I've wanted to be a huntress that would take on the wickedest kinds of evil." Ruby's eyes flashed with renewed determination. "So stopping some bullies should be easy as pie!"

" **Or cheese."**

Ruby's train of thought was completely derailed with that statement. "What?!" Then Ruby noticed a table with a large chunk of swiz cheese on it. "Oh… ok?"

Ruby walked over to the cheese and saw a super small Froggit sitting on top of it. The small Froggit waved at Ruby and jumped into a hole in the cheese. Chara blinked in amazement.

" **You know what?"**

"What?"

" **Let's find some bullies."**

Ruby nodded and started walking towards another room in the ruins. "So… where do you think… the um…" Ruby couldn't remember how to pronounce the bullying monsters names.

" **Migosp, Loox and Vegetoid are? No Idea But I'm sure-"**

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Ruby stopped and looked around for the source of the constant Zs but couldn't find anything. The room she just entered was a hallway with a gigantic pile of red leaves in the center of the room. "I don't see anything that could be making that noise."

" **Well anyway I think we should just-"**

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

" **Darn it who's making that-"**

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

" **GHA!"**

Ruby continued to walk down the hallway as Yang tried to talk over the continuous Zs. But as Ruby walked closer to the red leaves she noticed someone was lying in the pile.

"Oh hello there." Ruby called to the resting figure. The figure sifted so it could look at Ruby without getting out of the pile.

"oh hey." The figures voice was as soft as a whisper. "am I in your way?"

"Oh No, you're fine. I was just wondering if you've seen some monsters around here." Ruby sat down so she was closer to the other figure's eye level.

"oh well I saw vegetoid go down there." The figure made a motion towards one of the other entrance to this room. "but loox, whimsun and migosp should be down that way." The figure motioned to another entrance then returned to their original position.

"… **Interesting… which way to go first?"**

"Hey." Ruby directed a warm tone to the figure under the leaves. "Thanks for helping me."

The monster rose up and out of the leave pile. "your welcome, it's been a while since I got to meet nice person." The monster looked exactly like a classic Halloween ghost. The only thing that let Ruby know it wasn't a costume was the eyes.

Their body seemed a bit watery but defiantly real.

"My name's Ruby Rose, thanks again for helping me." Ruby figured she shouldn't try and shake the ghosts hand because she didn't know if her hand would phase right through it.

"my name is napstablook, it was nice to meet someone nice in the ruins." Napstablook seemed to smile as the ghost laid back down in the pile of red leaves.

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

" **He was the one causing that sound!"**

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

" **Get him to stop that-"**

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

" **WHAT THE FU-"**

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

" **GHA!"**

Ruby had to stop this madness. Ruby quickly turned around and walked back towards Napstablook. "Hey Nappy," Napstablook's eyes looked towards Ruby. "Why are you making that sound?"

"what sound?" Napstablook blushed where Ruby figured the ghost's cheeks would be.

"The… um…" Ruby didn't know how to phrase her question. "Well I guess it's not really a sound. It's kind of like… a…"

" **Z, ask why is his just saying z repeatedly."**

"Yeah, why are you saying Z over and over again?... repeatedly." Chara slapped their nonexistent forehead.

"oh…" Napstablook's blush deepened. "I say Z so other monsters think I'm sleeping and they just ignore me." Something about that made Ruby a bit depressed but at the same time confused.

"Why don't you just try to fake a snore?" Napstablook clearly had no idea of what Ruby was talking about. "Like this."

*Snore*

Napstablook's widened in amazement. "oh right… I'll try that later. thank you." Napstablook nodded at Ruby and then went back into the pile of leaves.

"Oh, ok." Ruby started to walk away from the pile and started to hear soft snoring noises behind her. Ruby smiled as she walked into the direction that Vegetoid was last seen.

"Your shenanigans stop now!" A voice yelled making Ruby slow down and listen. "I won't let you continue your reign of terror!" Both Ruby and Chara were surprised at the words of this clearly heroic speech.

"I guess the Moldsmals told someone else about the bullying monsters to." Ruby started moving at a faster pace towards the speaker.

" **Maybe…"**

"I will destroy this sale!" The other new words made Ruby pick up her pace. "Or my name isn't Vegetoid!"

" **Or maybe not."**

Ruby saw a light at the end of the hallway and the source of the voice. "STOP BULLY!" Ruby ran into a very square room that had only 3 characteristics that would keep it a part from any other empty room in the ruins.

Unfortunately Ruby didn't get a chance to see them in detail as Ruby tripped when she entered the room. "Ow…" Ruby pulled her face off the dirty floor of the ruins.

"Huh?" The voice that identified itself as Vegetoid directed at Ruby. "Who are you?" Ruby got back to her feet silently reminding herself that she still couldn't use her semblance or aura.

" **That could make this confrontation pretty tricky."**

"Maybe…" Ruby looked at Vegetoid. The monster looked exactly like the Moldsmals image. "But this isn't about easiness."

"What?" The Vegetoid looked at Ruby clearly confused as to why Ruby was seemingly talking to herself.

"It's about stopping the monsters bullying the other monsters of the ruins!" Ruby made a fist and held it in front of her face. Vegetoid would have been tilting his head if his carrot like body let him do that. "So!" Ruby pointed at Vegetoid her eyes showing her determination. "I, Ruby Rose will stop you, Vegetoid and your fellow trouble makers, from bullying the defenseless monsters that roam these ruins!" Ruby seemed to have the silhouette of an action hero as she finished delivering her hastily made speech.

"What are you talking about?!" The Vegetoid's yell made Ruby's epic pose seem pointless.

Ruby raised an eyebrow curiously. "Well you just said that you were going to destroy a… sale? Or something?" Ruby's determination wavered as she noticed the other two things in the otherwise plain room.

The first thing was a sign in the middle of the room that Ruby couldn't read as it was facing away from her. The other feature of the room made Ruby's eyes widen in fear.

" **That is a lot of spiders."**

Covering about 70% of the wall to Ruby's left was a giant mass of spider webs. There were so many webs Ruby couldn't even see where the wall should be. To make Ruby even more uncomfortable every few seconds some Spiders would scurry through the webs.

"Why are there so many spiders?" Ruby took a step away from the spider wall.

"There the cause of the sale that I'm going to destroy!" Vegetoid's anger seemed to flare along with the stem on the top of his head. "I will not have you sell your sugar in my home!"

Vegetoid started to spin like a top until all Ruby could make out of Vegetoid's body was a blur of orange. Then several razor sharp carrots shot out of the orange blur and right into the spider wall. The spiders started to panic as both their web and sale were being destroyed.

" **Ruby,"** Yang's voice seemed to help Ruby process the conflict in front of her easier. In fact the whole world seemed to be going in slow motion. **"I have a plan that would stop Vegetoid from destroying this… innocent sale."**

"I have a plan to." Ruby took a deep breath as time resumed at its normal rate. "I won't let someone bully someone weaker than them." Ruby dashed forward.

Chara watched with a completely neutral expression.

"Vegetoid!" The monster slowed its rotation so it could look at the small girl running at him. "I won't let you destroy this sale-" A Carrot flashed past Ruby's head and slammed into the wall behind her. Ruby stopped in her tracks, shocked at just how easily she could have died just then.

"I know you just want something sweet to eat." The Vegetoid's voice sounded much more depressed than it did before. "But the monsters that live in the Ruins should respect the idea of a balanced diet!"

"Uh…What?" Ruby while still a bit shocked was surprised by the monster's sudden convection.

"So I guess if trying to keep the monsters of this part of the underground healthy makes me a bully, then I'll take on the role of the bully!" Vegetoid started to spin even faster and even more veggie-projectiles cut into the web.

" **Well… What do you want to do?"** Chara watched Ruby face and smiled when they saw Ruby's face change from surprised to stone cold serious. **'Now that's the face my partner should have.'**

"I'm going to stop you from hurting the innocent!" Ruby dashed forward her voice booming. "Even without my semblance!" Chara watched a bit confused but keeping an optimistic mind.

Vegetoid grumbled and started to fire his veggie-projectiles at Ruby. In response Ruby rolled and the projectiles zoomed over her head. After rolling the distance between her and Vegetoid Ruby jumped into the air and right over the spinning monster.

Chara's smile widened. **"GO RUBY! DO IT-"** Chara's words were cut short when their equilibrium took a dive. The reason for this was because Ruby had jumped onto the spinning Vegetoid's head. Sense Ruby was used to moving at ridiculously high speeds being on top of Vegetoid was no problem for her. But for everyone else in the room it was a problem.

For Vegetoid, he now had a human girl on top on his head and pulling on his stem. The spiders were still panicking as now Vegetoid was firing everywhere. And Chara (Who was not used to moving as super speeds) felt like throwing up.

"Get off me!" Vegetoid started to bolt around the room like a Beyblade.

"Not until you stop hurting the spiders!" Ruby wrestled out the words. Vegetoid groaned and started slamming into walls to get Ruby off. "I won't stop until you swear-"

"GRAWW!" Vegetoid's cry of anger was swiftly followed by the still spinning monster spinning out of the room and away from the spiders. Ruby smiled at first thinking that the monster had finally agreed with her.

" **I don't-"** Yang's voice paused every few seconds like she was about to throw up. **"Think it- would be that- easy."** Ruby frowned and tried to make out where they were going. Which isn't that hard when you're getting a 360 of the area.

As far as Ruby could tell they were racing along in a part of the ruins she hadn't gotten to see yet. Ruby wondered why Vegetoid had gone this way, but she wouldn't need to wonder any more.

"Get this girl off of me!" Vegetoid yelled frantically at three different outlines.

" **Hey that's- That's those other- other two- can you get off this thing- now?!"** Ruby jumped off of Vegetoid and landed like a superhero. **"Thanks, Two of those monsters are the other two 'Outlaws/Bullies' were- looking for."** Chara was still recovering a bit from the ride. **  
**

"Really?" Ruby stood up and studied the new figures in front of her. Two of the three monsters were looming over the third monster in a clearly bullying manor. But when Vegetoid zoomed past all three monsters looked up to see what all the commotion was about.

The two that were looming looked just like the Moldsmals images. "Check one…" Ruby struggled for a bit trying to remember their names. "Loox and… Ms. Gross?" Ruby scratched the back of her head embarrassed.

" **You were right on the first one."** Yang's voice was trying for a supportive.

"Wait so one of the monster's names is Ms. Gross?" Ruby scrunched up her face. "That would make for an awkward name tag."

" **No I meant-"** Chara's patience was at its end. **"The one with the big eye is Loox; the big bug is called Migosp. Ok?"** Ruby nodded in understanding.

"What about the small bug?" Ruby pointed to a much smaller monster that reminded Ruby of a firefly. Only this bug was around the same size as Froggit, well maybe a bit smaller. "Which monster is that?"

" **Pretty sure that's a Whimsun."** Yang seemed a bit uninterested in the smaller monster. Ruby figured that Whimsun was the nerd that Loox and Migosp were bullying before she showed up.

Meanwhile Loox and Migosp looked at Ruby in total bewilderment. Whimsun was defiantly confused but a bit happy that someone had shown up. Vegetoid was leaning on a nearby wall clearly exhausted from the rotating piggy back ride.

"Is that a human?" Loox was the first monster to speak. The only response he got was a wheeze from Vegetoid.

"And is she talking to herself?" Migosp chucked at Ruby's conversation with thin air. "Because that means she's stupid… right?" Migosp looked at Loox for confirmation.

Loox rolled his eye. "Yes, Talking to yourself makes you stupid." Migosp grinned and focused back on Ruby. "Which makes me wonder why you don't do it to." The one eyed monster muttered under his breath.

"What?"

While the two monsters talked among themselves Whimsun flew over to Ruby who was still having a conversation with the air. "um… excuse me…" Whimsun spoke frantically.

"Well the point I trying to make is- Oh sorry." Ruby focused back on reality. "What do you need little guy?" Ruby smiled at the Whimsun.

"Pretty sure that Whimsun is a girl." Ruby blushed a bit at Yang's remark but didn't want to interrupt the smaller monster.

"um… well… I… think… you…" Chara rolled their nonexistent eyes while Ruby waited patiently. "looked… cool." Ruby patted the Whimsun on its head fondly.

"Thanks I've been training that whole jump and pose at the end thing for about 5 weeks now." Ruby sat down cross-legged so she could be eye level with the smaller monster. "My uncle told me that 'it's bad for legs in the long run Ruby' but my legs are fine."

" **He probably intended it as a long term effect; as opposed to an instantaneous outcome."** Ruby tilted her head to the side clearly confused. **"But you're probably right."** Ruby smiled.

"So your name is Whimsun right?" Whimsun nodded quickly. "So Whimsun were those two monsters over there bullying you?" Ruby pointed over to the now arguing Loox and Migosp.

"y- yes… pretty lady…" Whimsun hearing what she just made her quickly cover her face. "I- I mean… um… you're very… limber… er- uhm…" Chara was holding back a mountain of laughter. "never mind!… I'll see you later, bye!"

"Wait." Whimsun turned back and flew back over to Ruby. "Why were they bullying you?"

"oh… they wanted some money…" Ruby raised an eyebrow. "there's apparently some sale that opened up nearby-"

"WHAT!" Vegetoid's angry voice boomed. Whimsun dashed under Ruby's hood while everyone else turned to a still exhausted but angry vege-monster. "You said you wouldn't go near that sugary sale!"

"Is he talking to us?" Migosp whispered. Loox almost face palmed but remembered that 80% of his face was his eye.

"Of course I'm talking to you!" Vegetoid waddled back and forth in anger. "Who else could I be talking to?"

"Hey to be fair, that human has been talking to herself ever sense she showed up." Loox crossed his arms not at all worried about the tired monster.

"Actually she was talking to Whimsun but I guess she flew away." Loox deadpanned stared at Migosp. "But your point still works perfectly, look now she's talking to her cape-"

"We needed that bug to give us money for the bake sale!" Loox glared furiously at his 'partner'.

"So you admit that you were going to buy some sugary stuff from the spider's sale!" Vegetoid accused and soon enough all three 'bullies' were yelling among each other. Meanwhile Ruby was reassuring Whimsun that had seemed to attach herself to her hood.

"Ok so you're good." Ruby gave a thumps up and a winning smile.

"y- y-yep…" Whimsun unhooked herself off of the hood. "I'll… see you." And with an equivalent to Ruby's thumps up Whimsun fled the room.

" **I wonder if she's going to go off and buy something from the shop now."** Ruby pondered Yang's idea and shrugged.

"I think that choice is up to Whimsun." Ruby winked at nothing in particular. "After all I can't control everything in the world. I think I would lose my mind."

" **Yeah… lose your mind…"**

"Anyway," Ruby put her hands on her hips. "YOU THREE!" The arguing monsters all turned towards Ruby.

"Yes Ms. Superhero?" Migosp asked in a very polite manor while the other two monsters remained silent. Ruby grinned and pointed to Vegetoid.

"Vegetoid you don't want these two," Ruby pointed towards Loox and Migosp. "To eat anything from the spidery sale right?" The monsters traded glances for a moment.

"Correct?" Vegetoid didn't understand where Ruby was going with this. But she was too far along to stop her now.

"Then I'll make you a deal. If I get them to not eat anything from the sale will you go home and not bother the innocent spiders anymore?" Vegetoid was more than a bit exhausted by the turn out off today's events.

"Fine." Vegetoid started to rotate. Which worried Ruby at first but when Ruby started to notice that the monster was drilling down she smiled. "Just let me rest a bit." Vegetoid's voice was a bit muffled as only his stem was above ground now.

"Ok." Ruby half yelled so the buried monster could hear her. She then walked over to the two other monsters. "You two come with me."

"Ok." Migosp walked over to Ruby. Loox watched slack jawed. "Where are we going Ms. superhero?"

"Um…" Ruby realized that she didn't know exactly where Toriel's house was. But she was sure that she could figure it out. "Just follow me and you'll see."

* * *

"And there." Toriel sighed pulling the now finished Butterscotch Pie out of the oven and on the counter. "I haven't made one of these in… well ages." Toriel chuckled a bit at her joke as she put her oven mites next to the cooling pie.

Toriel walked out of her kitchen very pleased with herself. She had changed out of her black attire and into her normal purple and white rope. She also cleaned up (a lot) when the pie was in the oven.

"I guess I didn't realize how sloppy I this place was." Toriel joked about herself again as she walked threw her living room and out of her house. "Now then, this house should be ready for Ruby."

Toriel slowly pulled out her phone, while keeping a look out for any dogs. (Long story) But when she didn't see any canines she started to type in the number of the cell phone she gave Ruby.

After waiting a second for the line to connect Toriel cracked smile. "Hello my-"

"Uh hello who is this?" a voice that wasn't even close to Ruby's came over the line. Toriel's face blanked out for a moment. "Um hello anyone their?"

"Oh sorry." Toriel snapped herself out of her blank state. "I must have called the wrong number. Please forgive me."

"Uh… Well see this isn't my phone I just answered it for somebody." Toriel's face blanked again only this time there was a red glint in her eyes. "Um… you there-"

" ?" Toriel's voice lost all its peacefulness and made Loox (who had answered the call for Ruby) shake into a statue of pure fear and terror. " L-"

"Loox!" Ruby's voice made Toriel's ears perk up. "Why did you stop?!" Toriel raced over to the source of the voice and saw Ruby walking with a Migosp behind her and a bit farther behind was a Loox with its pupil the size of a period.

"My Child!" Toriel quickly embraced Ruby in a big goat hug. "I was so worried about you!" Ruby seemed a little embarrassed but accepted the over powering hug.

 **"..."**

"Hello friend of Ms. Superhero." The Migosp waved politely at Toriel; who looked back at the bug and cyclops like monsters with a look that said. 'Well I certainly wasn't expecting to see these neighbors today.'

"Hello." Toriel nodded politely as she put Ruby down. "It is nice to see you," Toriel took Ruby's hand. "But I must take Ruby home now."

"Hey-" Loox started to speak but one glance from Toriel made him stay a statue. But as Toriel started to walk Ruby back to her house she felt Ruby dig her feet into the earth.

"Toriel wait!" Ruby made Toriel turn around. "They need to come to your house to."

"Why?" Toriel asked in what she hoped sounded more curious than instantly opposed to the idea.

Ruby turned on her puppy eyes. "I kinda made a promise to Vegetoid that I would make sure these two didn't eat anything from a sale that is being hosted by a ton of spiders…" Ruby's eyes could have charmed mountains. "So I figured they could eat the cake you baked at your place."

"…" Toriel looked from the adorable Ruby to the cheerful Migosp and the paralyzed Loox. "Ok." Toriel nodded in approval.

"Yay!" Migosp did a little bug dance and Ruby smile covered her whole face. The three started to walk towards Toriel's house. After a few seconds Loox started to unpetrify and followed them.

After wiping her boots off at the door Ruby entered Toriel's home. "It's so clean." It looked like someone had triple waxed the carpet, twice. Ruby couldn't even spot a speck of dust (The dust bunny kind) in the air.

" **Toriel probably cleaned like crazy for you."** Ruby had to agree with Yang on that one. **"Though I don't think she's that happy about those two."**

Ruby looked behind her and saw that just outside the door Toriel was brushing Migosp's feet and claws before he could enter her house. "You two need to keep up your hygienic standards."

"Of course!" Migosp nodded and Loox still had a very distant look. Ruby felt a bit sad for the monsters but she figured she shouldn't push Toriel any farther than she already had.

Ruby started to take note of the home's design. The Living room was off to her right and what looked like three bed rooms were connected by a hallway to her left. But straight in front of Ruby was a stair case going down into the earth.

"That probably leads to her basement." Ruby dismissed offhandedly walking to the center of the first room.

" **Sure…"** Yang's voice was clearly sarcastic but Ruby just figured the tone was for the sake of sarcasm.

Just then exhaustion hit Ruby. "Hey Toriel?" Ruby turned towards the door and saw Toriel now cleaning off Loox. Migosp was now standing next to the door way still doing a happy bug dance.

"Yes my child?" Toriel glanced over to Ruby a bit concerned. Ruby still didn't like how Toriel was saying 'my child', but that didn't stop her from asking her question.

"Where are the beds?" Ruby realized she hadn't gotten any real sleep in quite a while. "I'm really tired and exhausted." Ruby chuckled weakly as all the exhaustion that not having your aura for a few hours started to catch up with her.

"Oh! Of course, you must be exhausted coming all the way here." Toriel motioned towards the first room down the hall. "That room has the cleanest bed. You should sleep in that one."

"Cool." Ruby gave a thumps up and started to walk towards the room.

"But Ms. Superhero!" Ruby looked back at Migosp. "What about your promise to Vegetoid?"

"Oh well Toriel can just give you guys the cake she was making for me." Ruby looked over to Toriel. "It's alright I can just eat something a bit more healthy when I wake up *Yawn* in the morning."

Toriel frowned but nodded as Ruby walked down the hallway. Toriel watched Ruby open the door and walk in the room like a mamma goat. "Get a good night's sleep Ms. superhero!"

The room was a bit bigger then Ruby's room back at her house. But it certainty had interesting stuff in it. Ruby looked over a bin that seemed to have a ton of action figures in them. There was also a closet that had a ton of green and yellow striped shirts and khakis in them.

"These look like they could fit me." Ruby said with a yawn taking off her hood and throwing it a corner of the room. "Probably not that great for P.J.s though."

"… **yeah."**

Ruby walked over to the twin bed and started taking off her boots. After a minute battle with both feet she had both boots off and started to pull herself into bed. Ruby pulled the warm covers over herself.

"It's so warm and comforting." Ruby mumbled as her eyes started to close. Just for a second Ruby's eyes flashed red so Chara could feel the same sensations Ruby was feeling.

But just like Toriel's hug, they didn't feel any warmth or comfort.

 **"…"**

"hey yang?" Ruby's voice was weak with weariness but Chara heard it just fine. Chara gave themselves a second to put back on Yang's voice before talking.

" **What's up Sis?"**

"do you think you *yawn* can tell me another story?" Ruby's now silver eyes were almost closed so Chara didn't really see the point in doing so if she fell asleep in the first few seconds of the story. But what the heck?

" **Ok Sis-"**

"but please don't make it scary like the last one. ok?" Ruby wined under the covers and Chara frowned.

" **Well…"** Chara didn't really get told a ton of stories when they were alive. Of course there were the 'events' that happened in the underground they would just take out the bloody parts. **"Do you know the story about the Three Way War?"**

"that sounds more like a history lesson, not a fairy tale." Ruby mumbled thinking over all past stories she had ever heard before. "who was at war?" Ruby asked trying to narrow the cast of characters.

 **"Well the 4 armies where-"**

"what? but you said a three way war!" Ruby frowned at the psych out. Chara made a low growling sound at Ruby, but she didn't seem to notice. "nice try but even when I'm almost asleep I-" Then Ruby's voice voice just cut off by her snoring.

" **Finally."** Chara sighed glad that Ruby had finally gotten to sleep. **"Enjoy your nap Ruby. Because we'll have plenty to do tomorrow."** Chara was about to dive into Ruby's dream just to see what the 10 year old could dream up.

But they stopped when they noticed the chill. Not the chill you get from a breeze but the kind you get when a ghost is breathing down your back. **'And I don't even have a back.'**

"Well how is it?" A voice seemed to say from nothingness. Chara knew that voice and checked to make sure Ruby was fully asleep before talking. "Getting attached are you?"

" **NO!"** Chara's outburst made Ruby stir and roll to her side. **"I just don't want another soul to fall into your claws Gaster."** Chara was positive that it was the ghostly specter's voice but they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary in the room.

"I already examined this one's soul when she fell, remember?" Gaster's tone almost sounded smug. "And in my condition all I could accomplish by holding onto her soul is dooming her world."

Chara narrowed their eyes at the nothingness. **"What are you doing here then? Just keeping tabs on your only company for the past few millenniums?"** Chara's tone was joking but in reality they were confused. **'Why can't I see him?'**

"I came here to see if my hypotheses were correct," The cold breeze seemed to rush around Chara. "My first is mostly correct, but I'm afraid it will not be lasting as I hope."

" **STOP IT!"** Ruby shuttered and reflexively pulled the covers over her head but Chara didn't care about Ruby's comfort. **"I'VE SEEN YOUR 'HYPOTHESES' ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SOULS AFTER WORDS!"**

"…" The breeze seemed to stop at the other end of the room so Chara directed their anger there. "You can't see me anymore can you."

" **Of course I can see you!"** Chara lied.

"You're lying," Chara cursed Gaster's name. "Just as I believed; as you become more attached to Ruby's body the more you lose contact with… your plane of existence."

" **You mean hell?"** Chara would always be bitter about that limbo they were stuck in.

"Quite right. Now at the rate you're losing perception of 'hell' along with the fact that Ruby isn't strong enough to sense me." Chara could tell Gaster was quietly calculating. "I believe that in less than 10 hours you will completely lose the ability to respond to my presence at all."

Chara laughed. **"Awesome, I never liked you anyway. Always toying with your experiments and theories... I would call it inhuman. But you're a monster so I guess that would be incorrect."** Gaster was silent for so long Chara figured they had lost the ability to hear them anymore.

"Do you wonder what Ruby's reaction will be?" Gaster's question caught Chara of guard.

" **To what, the fact that Toriel isn't going to let 'her child' go home?"** Chara shrugged as they looked over Ruby's sleeping form still under the covers. **"At best Ruby will kill her and see that my way is the only way she's getting home."**

"That to, but how will Ruby react when she is able to see you, Chara." Gaster words struck Chara like an epiphany. "Similar to how you are losing the ability to see me; Ruby will start adapting to your presence and soon she will be able to see you as clear as that other ghost."

" **When that happens,"** Chara's presence loomed over Ruby's soul. **"I'll take her body, soul and both our semblances**." Ruby started to twist around in the bed until she sneezed and Chara's looming presence was shoved back.

"You know you can't." Chara growled at the empty room. "If the fact that you were pushed away by a sleeping 10 year old's sneeze doesn't convince you, it should be the fact that when you tried after talking to Froggit you almost instantly blacked out. So once Ruby realizes your-"

" **When Ruby realizes that I'm there, then she will start to consciously reset me."** Chara's calm smile returned. **"And then I can wear her down,"** A purely wicked plan started to form. **"I'll let her get to the end of her journey and right before she enters her loved ones arms, I'll take control and make her reset to that pile of vines and flowers."**

" **At first she'll probably try and keep everything the same. Going through the underground and talking to the same monsters would be as easy as making poisonous pie."** Chara chuckled as Gaster listened to the malevolent ghost's plan.

" **All the while I'll be telling her to kill them, over, and over, and over; And after some time she'll either grow tired or insane from everything being the exact same."** Chara started to whisper into Ruby's ear but loud enough so Gaster was still able to hear every word.

 **"** Af **te** r a **ll** wi **t** h t **he** p **ow** er to **r** eset ti **m** e w **hy** s **hou** l **d** I **ha** ve **t** o s **uf** fe **r?"** Chara spoke using Ruby's own voice. **"** I tr **ain** ed to **fi** ght th **e th** ing **s th** at **wo** uld o **penl** y thr **e** a **te** n p **eac** e. **So h** ow aw **es** ome w **o** uld i **t** **b** e if **I** wi **pe** d **ou** t a **n** e **ntir** e r **ac** e of **cr** eatu **res t** hat **a** re a **t w** ar wi **th hu** m **an** it **y?"**

Gaster didn't say a word.

" **So** **out of evil plans would I would give this one a strong +B with what I have to work with."** Chara laughed to an empty room.

* * *

 _ **And That's Chapter 4, Like before leave a review on your thoughts, opinions, complicates or just sadness that RWBY volume 3 ended the way it did.  
**_

 _ **Now instead of a question I want to here your theories on which armies do you believe fought in the Three Way War that Chara was present for.**_

 _ **Anyway P.G.P. out for February.**_


	6. Chapter 5: Past the Fire

_**Well this Chapter took a bit longer than I wanted it to but I put a ton of effort into getting everything set up in an... interesting way and like always I hope you all enjoy this end to the Ruin story arc of Stay Determent, and please leave a review on your thoughts and such... feelings you may have after reading this...  
**_

 _ **By the way I'm not Monty Fox or Toby Oum... just so you know.**_

* * *

Toriel sat in her comfy chair reading one of her snail fact books. Every few seconds Toriel would look across her living room to see Loox and Migosp eating the pie that she had baked for Ruby with a twitch of anger.

'They shouldn't eat that much sugar.' Toriel told herself but almost instantly felt bad. 'On the other hand I expected Ruby to eat the whole pie by herself…' Toriel sighed as she returned to her book. 'Maybe human kids nowadays just don't have the stomach for whole pies.'

Toriel wanted to deny Ruby's decision on bringing such trouble making monsters to her home, but she couldn't refuse those 10 years olds eyes. Toriel also couldn't help but wondered if Loox and Migosp threatened her in some way.

"Excuse me?" Toriel was brought back to reality by Migosp's voice. Toriel looked over to see the two monsters had finished their meal and were now getting ready to leave. "I think we're going to go back to our home."

"Oh, of course," Toriel rose from her chair. "Do you need me to walk you back?"

"No." Loox said abruptly and quickly corrected himself. "No thank you Miss we can get home ourselves." Toriel nodded happy with Loox's correction and started walking towards the front door.

"Then, the least I can do is seeing you two out." The three monsters started to walk out of the living room but Toriel stopped when she noticed that there was still a slice of the pie on her table. "Oh, did you mean to leave a slice of pie left over?"

Migosp tilted his head and looked over at the table. "Oh sorry about that goat lady, I thought I eat all of my part of your delicious pie. But I'll go finish it right-"

"I left that slice for Ruby." Loox cut off his partner before he could eat the left over slice. "I wanted Ruby to have some of your pie, so I just didn't eat all of mine." Loox scratched the back of his head a bit embarrassed.

Toriel was surprised and smiled at the shorted monster. "Thank you, I'll be sure to tell Ruby that you saved a slice for her." Loox smiled back and then yawned along with Migosp. "Oh you must be tired, maybe you should-" Toriel was about to say they should sleep her room but Migosp cut her off.

"Oh no, we couldn't ask for anymore hospitality then we already have," Migosp bowed his head. "I wish you a wonderful evening." And Migosp walked out of Toriel's house. Loox was about to follow but stopped.

"Oh yeah you should show Ruby how to use that cell phone you gave her." Loox chuckled a bit as he remembered Ruby's panicked face when Toriel called her. "I don't think she really knows how to work one of those things."

Toriel laughed a bit herself imagining Ruby throwing the cell phone around like a hot potato. "Thank you for telling me, I'll be sure to fully explain the cellphone's mechanics to her."

"Um… just make sure she knows how to answer and call monsters on it." Loox and Toriel shared another laugh and Look realizing his partner was leaving him bolted after him.

Toriel watched the two until they were out of view. She then closed the door and walked over to the single slice of pie with her smile still beaming. "Those two surprised me," Then Toriel noticed that all around that single slice of pie was crumbs and remnants of the pie. "But they still have to learn some manners."

After cleaning the table up for what felt like an hour Toriel sighed and relaxed in her comfy chair. "What a busy day." Toriel while tired was happy to be finally doing something more productive than resting in her bed and telling knock knock jokes threw a door all day.

Toriel bolted upright in her chair. "I COMPLETELY FORGOT!" Toriel quickly covered her mouth in fear that she just woke Ruby up. After a silent walk towards the hallway Toriel could make out Ruby's snores and sighed in relief.

After making sure her front door was locked and silver wear was set out next to the pie if Ruby woke up and wanted to eat the slice she could; Toriel walk-ran down the only stair case in the house that led into a single long hallway.

After walk-running straight and then turning left along with the hall way Toriel came up to a large door. "I hope he's not worried." Toriel placed her hands (Paws?) on the large enchanted door and it opened revealing another hallway.

"He probably didn't even come out today…" Toriel waved off her worry as she picked up the pace. "Oh who am I kidding it's his job to be there every day!" Toriel found herself in front of a larger door.

This one was not enchanted but it was just huge by door standards. This door was the only way to enter and leave the ruins, it was the doorway that Toriel hadn't found the strength to go through ever since she first came to the ruins.

Every day that door was silently mocking her for not only staying in the ruins, but running away from her problems in the first place. That was until she heard the knocking.

One day Toriel swore she heard someone talking on the other side of the door and after a moment of carefully listening Toriel could tell that whoever this voice was they were trying out knock knock jokes on the other side of the large door. Toriel found this interesting and after a few more jokes Toriel decided to knock on the door from her side of the door.

After a very long silence the voice said. "who's there?" The voice sounded very happy and Toriel smiled.

"Boo."

"boo who?"

"Gosh, don't cry it's just a knock knock joke."

Both Toriel and the voice laughed at the old joke, and from that point on Toriel and voice traded jokes with each other for hours. Eventually the voice said that he had to leave and go take care of his brother. But he said he would be back tomorrow.

So from that day on Toriel would go down to that large door that once taunted her and now it was the one way for her to talk to someone, and whoever that voice belonged to was a very good listener. They never asked anything and always listened to Toriel.

This voice was her one and true friend.

But today she had completely forgotten about it when she was preparing everything for Ruby. So when Toriel finally reached the huge door she realized that the voice was probably gone by now and slumped her shoulders.

"…" Toriel was about to knock on the door just for old times' sake when she heard 2 knocks from the other side of the door. Toriel's mouth widened into a big smile. "Who's there?"

Not missing a beat the voice replied "iva."

"Iva who?"

"i've a sore hand from knocking!" Toriel laughed and after a few moments to recompose herself she knocked on the door. "who's there?"

"Ya."

"ya who?"

"I'm excited to see you too!" Toriel smiled as she heard the voice rattle with laughter. After a few moments Toriel felt the guilt of being late sting at her heart. "I'm sorry for making you wait out there all day… I was, preoccupied."

"hey don't worry about it." The voice said very nonchalantly. "when people like us are doing stuff you know it's important." Toriel smiled again. "speaking of doing stuff…" Toriel's smile almost disappeared.

She knew that the voice had to make sure his brother got to sleep and even without any real way to tell time in the ruins Toriel knew that they would have to leave soon. She knew what he was going to say.

"i still have some few more jokes to try out." Toriel was shocked and almost cried at the voice's kindness towards her. So the two traded knock knock jokes back and forth for a few more minutes until Toriel knew that the voice really should get going.

"Thank you." Toriel finally said on her turn to tell a joke.

"hey no problem lady." The voice once again replied nonchalantly. "actually I'm just glad your safe and didn't choke on a hotdog or something." Toriel chuckled weakly at the somewhat dark humor but knew the voice's worry was real.

Then a thought hit Toriel when she thought of Ruby. "Hey… before you go home…" Toriel's voice trailed off as the monster on the other side of the door waited patiently for her to finish. "You remember my request right?"

"…"

Toriel didn't like how silent the voice had become. "I know it's been a while but I-"

"i remember your request." For a second the voice sounded angry but quickly reverted back to its joking tone. "and trust me that if i ever see a human i'm not pointing a harming hand to 'em."

"Thank you and I'll knock you tomorrow." Toriel quipped and started to turn back the way she came.

"ditto." The voice said in a happy tone before letting out a yawning "man feels like i've been ripped out of a good night's sleep."

The monster walked back to his home with an odd sense of Déjà vu. Toriel meanwhile walked down the hall with a heavy heart.

After Toriel walked back up the stairs the exhaustion of the days activities started to take its toll on her. But not wanting to waist power she started going around her home turning of the lights for the night. When Toriel got to the last light the droopiness of sleep had taken full effect; so once the last light went out Toriel slumped in her comfy chair and dozed off into a nightmare.

* * *

"Mom? I can't feel…" A very weak voice called out from the darkness of Toriel's dream.

Toriel tried to run towards the voice and she felt something in her arms. When Toriel looked down she saw Ruby with three large puncture wounds in her chest. Her whole outfit was dripping red. The girl was dying in Toriel's arms.

"I'm sorry you have to see this Tori." A much larger voice sounded in a remorseful tone. Toriel saw a large shadow loom over her and Ruby's dying form. "But she has the last soul that we need to break the barrier." Toriel saw a large hand reach out over Ruby's small heart.

"Mom, I don't want to di-" Ruby never got to finish her sentence as her soul was ripped out of her body. Toriel looked down at the 10 year old body in her arms, a stream of tears running down her pale face.

"No… Ruby…" Toriel was in total shock as the large figure now holding Ruby's soul started walking away from the two.

"Like the other 7 humans… Ruby will have a funeral. But I know no monster will attend it." The figure tried to reassure Toriel but she wasn't listening anymore. She was just holding her child.

Toriel felt a something poke her on the cheek. "Hey Toriel?" A worried voice tried to cut through Toriel's sleep. "Toriel? Toriel! TORIEL WAKE UP!" Toriel eyes flashed open.

* * *

After her eyes adjusted to the waking world Toriel saw a panicked Ruby shaking her awake. "Oh, I'm sorry my child." Toriel sat up from her uncomfortable position that her resting body left her. "I guess my chair was just too comfy."

Ruby's worried expression lingered on her face until it was replaced with a smile. "That's good," Ruby sighed. "I was worried when I woke up and didn't see you sleeping in your bed."

Ruby scratched the back of her head smiling. Toriel's motherly nature picked up that Ruby was trying to hide something from her. "Ruby?" Toriel's voice had an edge that made Ruby yip. "Is something bothering you?"

"What?" Ruby shrugged and took a step back. "Nothing's bugging me Tori." Toriel sighed and got out of her chair decided to find out later what could be bothering her child.

"Well your friends left you a slice of pie." Toriel stretched and pointed towards the slice of pie that was still on the living room's table. "Now if you will excuse me, I should probably get changed into something clean."

Ruby looked at the slice of pie with a spark of confusion on her face. Toriel wanted to ask what was wrong but before she could Ruby smiled back at Toriel. "Alright Tori, let's see just how good your pie is… well plus one day."

Toriel and Ruby giggled and both walked off towards their destinations in Toriel's home.

After a few minutes Toriel walked out of her room wearing a clean robe and smelled like fresh spring. Ruby meanwhile was sitting at the table slowly eating the day old pie. Toriel walked over to the other chair at the table and sat down.

Toriel noticed that Ruby was almost finished with the slice and decided to ask her how it tasted. "I can't…" Toriel's heart rate increased as Ruby stopped to swallow. "Think of any food other than my mom's cookies that tasted this good."

Toriel felt her heart rate drop as she sighed, but it was almost instantly replaced with guilt. "Mom?" Toriel didn't realize that she said it out loud until Ruby looked away from her. "Oh I'm sorry Ruby. I just-"

"It's ok Toriel…" Ruby wiped the crumbs off her face. "I shouldn't have brought it up." Ruby's tone was uncharacteristically cold and distant. Toriel wanted to say she was sorry but Ruby cut her off.

"Toriel when can I go home?" Ruby saw how her words rocked Toriel's very soul and immediately tried to fix it. "I mean just so I know-"

"Why don't I show you how to use your phone!" Toriel jumped out of her chair. Her smile failed to hide the terror that Ruby knew she was concealing. "Loox told me that you were having some trouble with it… Now where did I leave your phone?"

Toriel started franticly looking around the living room for Ruby's phone. Ruby meanwhile got out of her chair so she could reach for the cell phone on her belt and get Toriel to calm down.

" **Ask her again."**

Ruby's hand stopped and after a moment went back to her side. "Toriel…" Ruby took a deep breath. "When can I go home?" Toriel wasn't facing Ruby but her words hit the motherly monster like a title wave.

Toriel quickly turned around her fake smile now almost gone. "Let's start making a new Pie for lunch… ok?" Toriel started to awkwardly walk towards the kitchen. "Maybe I should see if there's any extra cinnamon in the-"

"Toriel!" Toriel stopped and looked back at Ruby with a shadow covering her face. "I'm… I'm going outside." After a moment of confusion Toriel nodded.

"That sounds good my ch-" Ruby turned and walked out of the living room before Toriel could finish her sentence. Toriel felt a pit start to form in her chest. "That… could have gone better." Toriel waited to hear the front door close before going into the kitchen and bake a new pie.

But she didn't hear the door close.

Toriel raced to the front door and for a split second Toriel saw a flash of red going down the stairs that lead to the large door. "No…" Toriel ran down the stairs and saw Ruby with her hood up walking down the narrow hallway. "RUBY STOP!"

Ruby stopped and Toriel ran in front of her, **Blocking the way**. "Toriel please let me go home." Toriel couldn't see Ruby's face under her hood. "I already explored the ruins and know that there's no other way out of here. So please let me-"

Toriel couldn't listen to Ruby's words.

Toriel turned away from Ruby and started to walk down the hallway. "Please go back upstairs Ruby." Toriel made it to the turn in the hallway and noticed that Ruby was following her.

"They'll… Asgore will kill you." Ruby stopped as Toriel spoke. "Asgore will take your soul… and…" Toriel started to hurt for the thoughts coming to her. "Asgore will lead his army in a war against humanity." Ruby didn't say anything. "So Ruby…" Toriel knew that only one thing would stop Ruby and it wasn't going to be her. "Please wait upstairs while I destroy this passage."

"Toriel-" Ruby tried to say something but Toriel now ran down the rest of the hallway and started to see the enchanted door. "TORIEL!" Toriel looked behind her and still saw Ruby running after her.

"I'm sorry." Toriel turned and used her magic to create a wall of fire behind her. Ruby was forced to stop to avoid being barbequed. "I… Stay here my child." Toriel turned away from the fire wall and calmly walked towards to door.

"I'm sorry my friend." Toriel talked as if she was talking to the voice on the other side of the larger door. "But I… must keep…" Toriel knew she couldn't keep Ruby here. "But she isn't strong enough-"

"GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Toriel quickly turned and saw Ruby running full speed at the fire wall. Before Toriel could react Ruby used her semblance to run along the wall and over the wall of fire. After a second of digging her feet into the ground Ruby managed to stop in front of Toriel.

"How did she…?" Toriel looked at the glowing red child in front of her. "You have an… Aura?" Toriel hadn't seen an active aura since… the last human that came to the underground.

"Toriel please…" Ruby's words snapped Toriel out of her memory. "I have to go home."

"But this can be your new-"

"NO IT CAN'T!" Toriel took a step back surprised at Ruby's sudden anger but knew that tone. Ruby took a second to breathe and pushed her hood to show her face.

Ruby was a few seconds away from tears and Toriel wanted to embrace the youth but couldn't.

"My mom was a lot like you…" Ruby looked right into Toriel's eyes trying to make her understand something. "She was a great mom and a great huntress. She would make me and Yang Fresh cookies every Saturday night and she was super protective of us."

Ruby chuckled a bit at a memory. "One time Yang joined a group of 'hooligans' and Mom was super angry at her…" Toriel tried to smile encouraging Ruby to continue on with the story. "When we got home Yang got a scary lecture and from that day on Yang tried to convince those 'hooligans' to become non-hooligans; Now those guys are welcome to our house anytime they want."

Toriel saw the similarity with the 'hooligans' and Loox and Migosp, and started to realize what Ruby was getting to. "But one day when we were let out of school… a tall man in a white outfit picked us up." Ruby's tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"… **!"**

"Later…" Ruby shut her eyes but the memory wasn't stopping. "When we saw them… dad was hurt… Qrow refused to talk to us… and mom wasn't moving…" Ruby fell to her knees. "After her funeral we… we didn't even know what to-"

Ruby felt Toriel's arms wrap around her. "I understand Ruby." Toriel let Ruby cry into her robes as she held her. "You can't let your family go through that turmoil again…" Toriel knew that wasn't all of it. "But also my very presence… it torments you with the memory of your…" Toriel didn't know what to think. "I think you were right when you called me a monster-"

"You're not a monster Toriel." Ruby pulled enough out of the hug to look at Toriel's face. Ruby was smiling threw the tears "Your one of the most kind hearted Moms I've ever had."

Those words melted Toriel's heart. "Thank you… Ruby." Toriel and Ruby continued to hug each other until Toriel knew it was time. "I will not keep you here Ruby." Toriel broke the hug and turned to open the door. When she turned back to Ruby the child had rubbed the tears off her face. "I…"

"I'll be ok." Ruby gave a thumbs up that made Toriel smile. "But if you could do me one last thing." Ruby said a bit hesitantly.

"Of course Ruby."

"Well… can you make sure Vegetoid doesn't destroy a ton of spiders…" Toriel was surprised by Ruby's request. "It's just I didn't really get to fully convince him not to destroy-" Ruby was cut off by Toriel's laughter.

"Of course I will look after the monsters of the ruins." Toriel finally said through her chuckles. "But in turn… I ask that while you walk through the underground… act friendly towards the monsters you meet."

"A Froggit told me the same thing." Ruby smiled and nodded. "And I'll take those words to heart."

Toriel smiled and after patting Ruby on the head started to walk down the hallway. It was her silent farewell. Just before she disappeared down the hall she whispered to herself. "Be good out there."

Ruby turned to the door, her red hood flapped from a slight breeze as she walked through it. The hallway was a bit darker than Ruby anticipated but she was able to find her way.

Chara meanwhile stayed quite which didn't seem to bother Ruby as she walked down the rest of the hallway. But she stopped when she saw a spotlight in the middle of the hallway and the smiling flower blocking her path.

"You know there is nothing like a good lie." Flowey's grin wasn't as disturbing as Ruby remembered it to be. But that didn't mean that Ruby wasn't cautious. "Especially when it works on the first shot!"

Ruby figured that Flowey was going to try and kill her again. "I'm not as defenseless as I was before Flowey. I-"

" _Oh don't be so Dense kid!"_ Flowey's smile sprouted two fangs that made Ruby uneasy before it switched back to his normal slime. "This world's one true rule is, it's kill or be killed… So I guess you were able to play by your own rules."

Ruby was a bit confused by Flowey's words. "Um… thanks?"

"But don't get to cocky kid." Flowey's face started to melt and reshape as he spoke. _" I know what you did..."_ Flowey's voice was disjointed as his face finally settled on a face identical to Toriel's. "You murdered her."

All the color left Ruby's face. How did he… "No… I… didn't mean-" Ruby's voice was cut off and her eyes slammed shut trying to shut out the image in her mind.

Toriel's shocked face before disintegrating into dust.

Flowey started to laugh through Toriel's face. _"And then you went back because you regretted it!"_ Flowey started to laugh as Ruby shook her head back and forth. _"You naïve idiot! You think you're the only one with the power to-"_

Flowey never got to finish his sentence as Ruby disappeared in a flash of rose petals and then a second later loomed over the flower. Ruby's once silver eyes were now blood red and a vacant smile that highlighted rosy cheeks that Ruby didn't have a second ago stretched wide.

" **No."** Flowey's fake face disappeared as he recognized the voice that was coming out of Ruby's mouth. **"But you shouldn't act like you're the god of MY power either."** Chara's words weren't harsh but layered with anger.

* * *

"Wait Your Ruby Rose's parent?" Flowey looked at Qrow as he stepped out of the shadows of Mt. Ebott's caves. He didn't really look anything like Ruby, except for stupid fashion sense.

"Actually I'm her spirit animal." Qrow corrected in what Flowey took to be a sarcastic tone. "But I think the better question is what the hell are you?" Qrow made a repulsive face to Flowey's blank one. "I mean did something at Merlot have a love child with a plant to have you or-"

"OK I GET IT!" Flowey yelled and shook his head to calm himself. "Anyway… I'm Flowey the flower and a resident of the underground. A.k.a. the last land of monsters." Qrow raised an eye brow now legitimately curious instead of slightly.

"And I'm wondering how you know my niece." Qrow's voice dipped to a serious tone for a moment making sure to watch the flower's face.

"Well I was the first monster she met in the underground." Flowey started to lie like a liar. "And after I explained to her where she was and how to get out of the underground she told me to try and reach her… uncle." Qrow smirked at Flowey's story.

"Did she get to the underground by falling down this hole?" Qrow motioned towards the large Cavepit that still had sunlight shining down it.

"Yep, but I don't recommend jumping down now though. When Ruby fell down she managed to bring down a pile of vines with her, so she didn't break all the bones in her body." Flowey warned Qrow all the while internally smiling at his good fortune.

' _If I play this right I can get an army of humans ready to attack the underground and then I can kill 7-'_ Flowey grunted as a surge of magic rocked threw his body. 'The barrier still doesn't like that I went through it!' Flowey silently cursed. _'Well I don't need that much time-'_

"This land of monsters," Flowey redirected his attention to Qrow. "How dangerous is it?"

"Not so dangerous that she can't survive… for a few days," Flowey tried to think of an extra oomph to his words. "At most. But don't worry while you hurry and get some more humans to rescue Ruby. I'll use all my power to help my new friend-"

In a millisecond Qrow's Sword appeared in his hand and slashed dangerously close to Flowey's stem. Flowey was dead silent as he processed that this man had almost killed him. 'I would have stayed dead…'

"Don't say your friends." Qrow's eyes glowed red in reserved anger. "Ruby wouldn't in a million years become friends with a liar like you." Flowey was shocked that this man was able to see threw his lies so easily.

' _Unless he's just bluffing.'_

"What?!" Flowey tried for an incredulous tone. "But Ruby tasked me with finding her Uncle to tell her she was ok." Qrow raised an eye brow and smiled as he put his weapon back on his belt.

"I'm not much of a people's person." Qrow took a more relaxed stance. "But I've been around plenty of people, and that gave me this skill of knowing how to read someone's face. And bad news for you but 90% of your body is your face."

"What kind of crazy logic is that?" Flowey glared at Qrow's smile. "Just because you-"

"Also you said 'Your Ruby Rose's parent' when you first showed up." Qrow cut off Flowey which annoyed the flower to no end. "So I'll give you one more chance to tell me the truth…" Qrow's eyes gleamed like a predator. "What did you do to Ruby you ghost?"

'Shit!' Flowey internally cursed. 'Well if I can buy myself about another minute the barrier will sling shot me back into the underground so I just have to…' Flowey's train of thought slowed down as Qrow's question registered.

This time Flowey raised an eyebrow at Qrow. "Why do you humans talk about ghosts so much?" Flowey was met with silence from Qrow. "Hey Ruby said the same thing and I haven't gotten the chance to talk to her again since she… got away…"

Qrow smiled at Flowey's discomfort. 'So your still alive… good job Rube's.'

"This mountain has a legend that a flower called the Dust Daisy grows here and a ghost attacks anyone who tries and takes it." Qrow explained in a slightly disinterested tone. "But I figure that in reality you're both the Daisy and the Ghost."

"That's supposed to be the legend of mount Ebott?" Flowey wasn't sure if it's just because of how long it's been but that version of the legend sounded incredibly dumb.

"Oh really, you monsters have a different version of a legend. Who would have guessed…" Qrow wasn't taking this conversation seriously anymore because he just finished his plan. His plan was to first finish milking Flowey for info, second fly down the Cavepit and find Ruby, third get the both of them out of there.

"Ok… what's your name by the way?" Flowey started to talk more frequently as he felt the barrier pull him down like a vacuum. So Flowey started to get a bit more reckless in his words.

"Qrow, Now I'm pretty sure that what you said about the underground being a land of monsters is true." Qrow cracked his neck as he walked over to the Cavepit. "And I'm also sure you came looking for me because you wanted to try and hurt Ruby."

" _heh…"_ Flowey's face changed to show his fangs. _"Right on the money there."_ Qrow made a slightly disapproving face. _"And since you won't be able to survive the fall to help her I guarantee that I'll torment that girl every step of her journey."_

"That's something else that's bugging me." Qrow disregarded Flowey's peacocking threat. "What did sweet little Ruby do to you to make you wanna hurt her so badly?" Qrow's tone made it clear that he wanted a genuine answer.

At first Flowey was going to say it was because she somehow stole his powers to reset time. But he realized that wasn't it, at least not completely. It was something else… something… that made him feel like dust in the wind.

"Because she reminds me of my past," Flowey sneered at the memory. "And something about that just rubs me the wrong way."

"Good to know that not even a wannabe murderer knows why they're going to murder people they meet." Qrow's tone held an edge of disappointment.

"Oh that's not the reason why I want to kill you all!" Flowey interjected but before he could explain he felt another shock from the barrier. "Gah! But that's its own story Qrow…"

Qrow looked a bit confused as to why Flowey cried out in pain. But before he could say anything Flowey cut him off.

"I just want you to know that you won't survive the fall to help pour Little Ruby," Flowey's eyes turned pitch black with small red dots in the center. _"And I'm going to enjoy hearing her scream over and over again as I tear out her heart and stem my roots threw her veins."_

"Wow." Qrow smirked, a reaction Flowey was not expecting. "You really have no idea how strong Ruby is do you?"

Flowey scoffed thinking Qrow was trying to scary him off. "She's 10 years old, I've killed-"

"She's completed tasks that people 8 grade levels higher than her think are impossible." Qrow started to grin. "She already has mastered 3 different weapon types and she was able to unlock her aura and semblance all by herself and she killed 3 Beowolfs with nothing but a gun and her wits."

Flowey's eyes widened. "She… she has an aura?" That would defiantly make killing her harder the other stuff didn't really intermediate Flowey in anyway at all.

"And now you pissed of her teacher and her uncle," Flowey saw a gleam of silver and reflexively ducked low to the ground. Where Flowey's face was a moment ago a silver slash was left by Qrow's sword. "Oh and by the way… Go to hell."

Qrow slashed down with a clear intent to kill. But before he could land a blow Flowey disappeared into the earth.

"That was a bit too close for comfort." Flowey resurfaced in the room where Ruby had fallen down from. Flowey glared up at the hole in the ceiling. "But if you try to come down here, _I'll be waiting!"_ Flowey grinned and pepaired for battle.

After several hours and the sunlight changed to moonlight then back to sunlight Flowey started to get bored just waiting there. "Why isn't he coming down?" Flowey figured that if Ruby was Qrow's student and she had her aura and semblance unlocked he should have his unlocked as well.

"So I guess he could survive that fall if he needed to…" Flowey discontent grumbles turned into angry snarls. "Then why hasn't he just jumped down already? Seriously I could have killed Ruby in the time it took…" Flowey grinned as a thought popped into his head.

" _I wonder what Ruby is doing?"_ And after a second of 'seeing' threw the Underground he found her. Flowey grinned as he dipped into the earth. "Let's see what-" When Flowey resurfaced he was in a dark hall way and it took him a second to figure out that he was under Toriel's house.

But what made Flowey stare in confusion was the sight before him. Ruby was crying over a pile of fresh monster dust.

"Toriel…" Some of the dust was starting to cover Ruby's hood but most of it just gathered in a large pile in front of her. "I'm… I… why… didn't you..." Ruby covered her face with her hands not realizing that she also had dust on her hands as well effectively bleaching her face pure white.

"That's…" Flowey's words made Ruby turn around so quickly she tripped landing in the pile that was Toriel's body effectively bathing Ruby's outfit in white. _"Hilarious!"_ Ruby was still in shock but Flowey didn't care and moved so he was closer to shell shocked girl.

"She… she… I'm…" Ruby looked back at her dust covered hands; the dust was now stinging her eyes and mouth. "A… murderer."

"Toriel wanted you to stay," Flowey started connecting the dots all the while smiling at Ruby. "You didn't, so she made you fight her and because of you aura and semblance… _You Murdered Her."_ Flowey couldn't help but laugh. "And you weren't even trying were you?!"

Flowey's voice was starting to fade away as Ruby started to retreat into her mind.

Ruby felt so cold and alone… but somehow she also felt… **s** t **r** o **n** g **e** r. " **W** hy do **I** feel s **t** r **o** n **g** e **r** i **f** I **kille** d **s** o **m** e **o** ne **?"** Ruby felt like someone was hugging her.

" **Maybe I should see if I feel stronger killing other monsters."** A voice Ruby swore was hers whispered the idea into her mind.

"B **u** t **…"**

" **No one that I care about is around... anymore, so I couldn't hurt them…"** Chara pointed out and Ruby's started to listen in the broken state she was in. **"And if Qrow was that worried about me he would have found me by now."**

Ruby's shattered mind came to a conclusion. " **Yeah** … I **need** **to get out of here by my own strength!** " Chara grinned at how easy it was to break Ruby's mind.

" **That's a great idea!"** Chara encouraged turning their attention back to a still laughing Flowey **. "I wonder how strong Flowey is?"**

"Are you done talking to yourself?" Flowey continued to taunt the new murder in front of him. "I would say I'm impressed but your just a-"

" **Flowey** ," Ruby's voice cut Flowey off. Her tone sounded like she was… delighted. " **How strong are you**?" Flowey couldn't see the grin spread wide across Ruby's face and just figured that she was still in shock.

"Kid I'm strong enough to kill a hunter like your uncle if I wanted to, so don't think you're so high and mighty just because you killed someone." Flowey's words shocked Ruby out of Chara's grip.

" **Shit!"**

"You saw my uncle?" Ruby was so happy but then she realized that Qrow would find out what she did. "No!" Ruby started to panic and shake her head trying to process what to do. "I don't want to- to-" Then an idea hit Ruby and she started to concentrate.

"To what?" Flowey continued to torment Ruby. Meanwhile Chara realized what Ruby was doing and knew that they couldn't stop her. "Say you murdered someone who acted like your mom? Because guess what kid, your-"

* * *

"-A full blown kill… What the!?" Flowey was back in the room where Ruby fell, like he hadn't moved from when he was waiting for Qrow to fall. It took a second for Flowey to understand what had happened.

"She went back…" Flowey was disappointed but his disappointment instantly disappeared as he remembered Ruby's face. She knew she killed someone and that would stay with her even if she did a true reset.

" _This is so much more interesting than trying to find ways to kill that skeleton!"_

* * *

 _ **I plan to have the next chapter out by the end of the month...**  
_

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **Stay Determined Ruby...**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **You have to...**_


	7. Chapter 6: And into Ashes

_**Man this took a bit longer than I thought it would take to write up. But I feel that's mostly because of how many times I edited and rewrote everything a bunch to make sure it was all correct as the editors that I normally work with have been sick. So this is technically the first Chapter I've written for this story with only myself.**_

 _ **But Anyway this is (technically) the first chapter of the what I'm going to call the**_ _ **Skeleton arc**_ _ **of Stay determined, for obvious reasons. And of course a few declaimers that I want people to know BEFORE READING THIS.**_

 _ **1st someone said in a review that they didn't understand that I'm not Monty Fox or Toby Oum. So just to be sure I'm not those guys I just mentioned... Ok? Good.**_

 _ **2nd this Chapter is DARK, not gore Dark but Chara level Satanism. But don't blow a gasket, because I guarantee the next Chapter will be a lot lighter in tone compared to this one.**_

 _ **And Finally just have a good day and hope you have a fun time reading this. ;)**_

* * *

"What's with that face…" Flowey was slightly repulsed by Ruby's new features. They reminded him of…Chara. "Char- Ruby stop making that face!" Flowey was able to hide his growing fear under a commanding tone.

Chara's grin only widened threw Ruby's face. **"What did I say about acting better than me?"** Chara's voice made Flowey's eyes widened in continued shock. **"Now kneel- oh I guess you can't kneel…"** Chara tried to think of an equivalent show of physical loyalty mixed with fear someone like Flowey could do.

"Stop Talking Like That!" Flowey yelled at who he thought was Ruby messing with him. "You talking just like-" Before Flowey could finish his sentence Chara ripped him right out of the ground, all of his roots snapped like veins being torn out from under someone's skin.

"GHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Flowey almost blacked out from the pain. **"What am I to do with you?"** Chara make a tisk tisk motion and realizing that Flowey wasn't entirely conscious they violently shook him until he was. **"Now normally I would just kill you,"** Flowey felt Ruby's free hand graze his petals and start to tug on one of them. " **But first I would like to know how you were able to remember that... beautiful scene that I had with Toriel."** Flowey managed to look into those blood red eyes.

"heh… heh…"

Chara raised one of Ruby's eye brows. **"What's so funny Flowey?"** Flowey smiled back at the demon's own grin.

"I just didn't think a little torment was all it took to push you over the edge Ruby." Flowey chuckled a bit before struggling to stand straight. "As for my memory… Well… the best I can figure is that because I had the exact same power as yourself, I can… resist the urge to forget."

" **See,"** Chara threw Flowey back into the dirt. **"It works out to help out."** Flowey groaned as he replanted himself into the earth. **"But now I have another question-"**

"How did I get the power to reset-"

Chara slammed Ruby's foot into the dirt shutting Flowey up. **"DON'T INTERUPT ME! But yes that was my question."** Ruby's body stood their pleasantly waiting despite the clear anger that was just under the surface.

Flowey was tempted to run but he doubted he could get away with Ruby… or whatever the thing she was now, having the ability to manipulate time. So he figured he should answer the… thing's questions. "I got the power from the royal scientist of the Underground."

" **Really? I swore I was his favorite- Oh,"** Chara snapped Ruby's fingers. **"Wait what's the scientist's name?"**

This time Flowey raised an eyebrow. "HER name is Alphys… but I thought she was the only royal scientist-"

" **I don't care what you thought."** Chara tried to wave away Flowey's personal thoughts, but Ruby's arm wasn't responding to their will. **'Shit!'** Chara internally cursed. **'Ruby's soul is starting to regain control.'**

The only reason Chara was able to gain such a good grip on Ruby's body at all was because of the girl's confused state and now she was trying to come back to the surface. But Chara knew that this would be the only chance they got to manipulate there free will without Ruby completely resisting them.

So they had to make every second count.

" **Flowey,"** Chara started to walk Ruby's body around the edge of the spotlight like a shark. **"I want you to stop trying to kill me while I'm… having my fun in the Underground."** Chara licked Ruby's lips.

Flowey was still uneasy but perked up a bit at the word 'fun'. "Listen…" Flowey couldn't help but smile even though he could be killed if he wasn't carful. "I have to ask just one thing, you… look and even sound a lot like a human I knew… their name was Chara."

Chara looked blankly at Flowey and shrugged. **"Well it did take a while to find a body,"** Ruby's body stopped suddenly and winked at Flowey. **"But I'm back in the underground."**

Flowey was shocked by those words. "So- so you're actually Chara, the same Chara that lived with m- with Toriel and Asgore?" Flowey wasn't sure what this feeling in his body was but he was sure that it was his equivalent of hope or maybe… happiness.

" **That was a very long time ago… I guess you were training to be a stalker for a while huh?"** Chara laughed at their joke and Flowey started to laugh a bit as well. Both murders shared a laugh completely forgetting the fact that they were on pins and needles a second ago.

"This is great!" Flowey smiled and Chara instantly stopped laughing.

" **I know, I'm a comedic genius."** Chara then sneered in their mind. **'Unlike that stupid joke about spikes Ruby came up with.'**

"No, well yah sure, but I meant that now we can start 'playing' again." Flowey's voice was filled with a cheeriness that he hadn't felt in a very long time. "We can torment the towns, slay the citizens and I'm sure that together we can also kill that pesky-"

Ruby's body felt to one knee gripping its sides. Chara's expression changed from its creepy smile to an angry growl. **"Dammit!"** Chara cursed and a panicked Flowey was instantly at the body's side.

"Chara what's wrong?" Flowey saw sweat drip down Ruby's face and then the color of Ruby's eyes started to flash silver. "Oh I get it. Ruby's soul is forcing itself back into the driver's seat." Flowey started to prepare himself to attack once Ruby changed back.

" **Don't try and kill her."** Chara grumbled towards Flowey's direction as they silently fought for a few more seconds of control. **'I was so close. If only this girl wasn't so stubborn about doing the right thing just because her role model could find… out…'** An idea formed in Chara's mind.

Meanwhile Flowey was confused as to why Chara wouldn't want him to kill Ruby for them. "What? But if I manage to kill her you can possess her body right?" Flowey waited for an answer but Chara didn't care enough to give an answer.

" **Flower!"** Chara lurched forward now felling Ruby actively fighting for control over her body again. **"Is Ruby's uncle in the Underground?"**

"It's Flowey," Chara growled at the flower. "And no, if he wanted to be in the underground then he would have dropped down by now." Chara's smile widened as their eyes started to lose their red tint.

" **Good. Now I need you to keep Ruby talking when she wakes up for around about 3 minutes."** Flowey raised an eyebrow clearly not understanding why he should. **"JUST DO IT!"** Chara managed to yell out the last word before Ruby's soul took over again and all of Chara's physical features disappeared from Ruby's face.

Ruby collapsed in a heap groaning from the massive headache that now racked her head. "What… happened?" Ruby raised her head and opened her eyes to see Flowey staring back at her. His eyes were pure black with little red pupils staring right back at her.

" _HOWDY!"_

"GAH!" Ruby rolled away from Flowey. She stopped after 3 rolls and bolted up taking a defensive stance. "What are you doing- AH!" A head splitting headache flared up over Ruby's eye making her cover her eye from the pain. "Why does my head hurt so much?"

Flowey chuckled as his face changed back to normal. 'Alright Chara, I won't kill Ruby. _But that doesn't mean I can't finish having a bit of fun._ ' He started looked over Ruby with a questioning eye. "So do you remember anything?"

Ruby still stood in her defensive stance but her face was a confused mess. "I… I remember… you were talking to me about…" Ruby's voice caught in her throat. "But everything got all red… and you said I was a… Car… I think?"

"Well that's defiantly what you were able to understand." Flowey's smile widened to inforce the idea that he is a jerk when compared to his normal smile. "The first time I saw you I thought, 'hey it's something brand new to the underground, I'm a gonna kill it'. But then that cow showed up and messed up my plan. So I figured I'd just reload the world and just kill you bit more… efficiently."

Ruby narrowed her eyes still trying to recover from her head ache as Flowey continued. "But as you know I couldn't… And I wondered why…" Flowey's face changed to its fanged version. _"And a bit later I found out that you had somehow inherited my power."_

"I have no idea how I did though!" Ruby voice was layered in confusion as she tried to organize her thoughts. "I remember I was dreaming and Yang told me to concentrate and I was back in front of-"

"In front of Froggit! I know I was spying on you!" Flowey didn't like being interrupted by those beneath him. Ruby backed up a bit afraid that Flowey might attack her. "Oh, and don't worry kid. I'm not going to try and kill you."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Why?"

Flowey face changed back to normal. "Well there are a few reasons. But the primary one is that I know you'll come over to my side if what you did to Toriel is any indication." Ruby started to shake from just the mention of that 'incident'. "Here's A piece of knowledge for you… not counting me there are… I'd say about 3 monsters in the underground that really know what a human aura really even is."

Ruby was confused by that statement. "But doesn't every living thing on the planet have an aura?" Flowey laughed at Ruby's question.

"You really need to brush up on your monster biology kid." Flowey smiled as Ruby glared back at him.

"How would I know anything about monster?!" Flowey was a bit surprised that Ruby was yelling at him. "I didn't even know that monsters like you guy's even existed! I didn't know that-"

"That monsters can die so easily?" Flowey practically jumped for joy to see Ruby's reaction to his words. Ruby lowered her face and draped the cape part of her hood around herself in a vain attempt to shield herself.

"Please stop talking about that." Ruby's voice was trembling now. "That was… that wasn't me." Flowey smirked.

"Sure it wasn't." His voice dripped with sarcasm despite the fact that now that he met Chara he couldn't be too sure if Ruby was lying or not. "And you can keep telling yourself that as long as you want… But that won't change a thing. Because in this world, _its kill or be kille_ d!" Flowey figuring his 3 minutes were up winked a goodbye at Ruby. "I'll see you around… _killer_."

Before Flowey could sink back into the earth Ruby dashed forward. "Wait!" Flowey stopped and raised an eyebrow clearly waiting for whatever Ruby was going to say. "Um…" Ruby wasn't exactly sure how to ask what she wanted to ask. "Why do you want to hurt me?"

Flowey rolled his eyes. "It's not that I don't want to hurt you, it's that this world has finally become interesting again." Ruby clearly didn't understand what he meant by that. "Listen I can tell that you don't understand me, and in all honesty I get that. But I know that eventually you will, that's why I said you will eventually come to my side."

Flowey's face grew out of his flower body until his face was now as big as Ruby's whole body. _"YOU WILL LIVE OUT YOUR LIFE GOING THROUGHOUT THIS WORLD AND WHEN YOU'VE HIT AN 'ENDING' YOU'LL WONDER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU DID SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY!"_ Ruby started to shake but stood her ground against the thing that was once a small yellow flower. _"AND EVENTUALLY YOU'LL START KILLING OUT OF BOREDOM AND THAT'S WHEN THE REAL FUN STARTS!"_

"No!" Ruby put her fist over her chest to try and stop the growing pit of guilt in her heart. "I will never manipulate the world with my power. As a huntress I have to help the world become a better place." Flowey's gigantic face grinned back at Ruby's own scared expression.

" _FINE!"_ Flowey's face sucked back into its flower body and smiled at Ruby. "You can think that all you want, _but we both know that some part of you has already given in on the idea of mass GENOCIDE!"_ Flowey grinned evilly back at Ruby knowing that Chara was just under the surface and probably listening to every word that he was saying.

"Genocide?" Ruby wasn't familiar with the word but she could guess that if Flowey was recommending it, it couldn't be good. But for some reason Ruby couldn't get that word out of her head. "Genocide?" Ruby scratched the back of her head. "Where have I heard that before?"

"Um…" Flowey looked a bit confused as to why Ruby would keep on repeating the word when the answer hit him. 'Chara's whispering words in her ear.' Flowey smile widened with glee. 'At this rate Chara and I will be able to kill everyone in the underground in no time. Even that-' Flowey's internal monologue was cut off by a terrifying memory off… _HIM_.

"That stupid Skeleton…" Flowey cursed under his breath. "I never would have thought that idiot would be so…" Then a thought hit Flowey as he looked up at Ruby, who was still trying to remember the word Genocide. "Hey you!" Flowey's yell snapped Ruby back to reality.

"Um… Yes?" Ruby looked back at Flowey completely forgetting that she was supposed to be tormented by the flower. "I'm trying to remember something if you don't mind." Flowey's mouth was hanging open from the shock that Ruby seemed to completely forget about him in the span of two paragraphs.

"You know kid I hate to do this…" Flowey's normally confident smile started to falter. "But I'm gonna give you some genuine advice… not because you're a great person or anything, but because I want to make sure you don't screw this up."

Ruby was confused as to why Flowey had started to lose his almost always present confidence. "Um… thanks?" Ruby didn't want to act rude… but… "I thought that since I have the semblance to travel back in time I can't really screw up." Flowey chuckled a bit at that.

"Already playing GOD I see…" Flowey couldn't keep up his smile however as that terrifying image flashed through his mind again. "Listen… There's one monster in the Underground that… well let's just say if HE ever finds out that you're the one rewinding time. _HE WILL KILL YOU!"_ Flowey started to shake. _"OVER! AND OVER! AND OVER!"_

Ruby was taken aback by how scared Flowey, a self-proclaimed and time traveling murderer, was scared. 'Who could scare Flowey like this?' Then another thought seemed to bloom in Ruby's mind. 'And how scary strong are they.'

"…" Chara couldn't help but think the same thing as they continued to gather their strength to kill Ruby.

After a few seconds Flowey managed to stop his shaking and look back up at Ruby with his normal smile. "Anyway killer, I think I've rambled on enough… _I'll be watching_." Flowey winked and disappeared into the earth.

Ruby was alone.

 **Or so she believed.**

Ruby was now standing in the middle of the spotlight still repeating Flowey's mystery word. " **Ge** n **o** c **id** e…" Ruby looked at her hand in the spotlight. A flake of dust landed on it from the ceiling and she quickly pulled her hand back under her hood she still had draped around herself. "No… That wasn't me."

Chara grinned and reached out into Ruby's mind.

Images flashed in Ruby's mind. Toriel's face determined to make Ruby stay in the Ruins, her magical fire attacks grazing Ruby's cape, her telling and pushing Ruby to prove that she could survive the monsters of the underground, Toriel's stunned expression when Ruby punched a hole threw her stomach, That voice that told Ruby to kill, And Ruby's willing-ness to go along with that voice.

" **That was certainty a traumatic experience."**

Ruby was snapped back to reality by a familiar voice directly in front of her. When Ruby looked up she could see blood red eyes looking right back at her. The red eyed figure was just at the edge of the light so Ruby couldn't make out who it was.

But Ruby thought she recognized the voice. "Yang?" Ruby asked clearly confused as to how or why her sister would be here.

The figure smiled and stepped out of the darkness to reveal that it was **Yang**. She was wearing the same PJs that she was wearing in the dream that Ruby had before. The only feature that Ruby noticed was different was that Yang's murderous smile stopped at rosy cheeks she didn't have before.

" **Hey sis!"** Yang stopped when she was in full view and out stretched her arms. **"You need a hug?"** Ruby's eyes widened and tears started to run down her cheeks. **"Hey its ok Rube's I'll protect you. What are sisters for-"**

"What are you?" Ruby's question made Chara fall silent their smile was now a neutral line across their face. "Because whatever you are, I know you aren't my sister." Ruby's hands shook under her hood.

Chara rolled their red eyes and put her hands behind her back. **"What gave me away?"** Before Ruby could respond Yang's form was instantly face to face with hers. **"WAS IT THE FACT THAT I'M WEARING PAJAMAS?"** Ruby felt Yang's strong grip around her throat and all she could see was that smiling face.

Ruby summoned all of her aura a kicked the fake Yang away from her. It surprisingly worked and at the same time didn't help. The fake Yang was sent back just to the edge of the spotlight releasing Ruby from their grip and Ruby landed on the ground in a coughing fit.

" **Now why did you have to do that Ruby?"** Chara calmly walked over to Ruby who managed to get back on her wobbly feet. **"Your acting like you've never seen me before,"** Chara's body changed into a form Ruby recognized all too well. **"Maybe you should look in a negative photo more often."**

The form Chara was now using was the same one that they used when they first attacked Ruby. The body and outfit was the exact same as Ruby's only it was Green were it should be Red and Yellow were it should be Black. And of course Chara's rosy cheeks and vacant smile were present as well.

"You…" Ruby started to back up as the other Ruby slowly walked forward. "It was you-"

" **Yes, Yes, Yes."** Chara rounded off in a board tone. **"It was I who made you fall into the underground, I who whispered to you as you walked through the ruins, I who had my semblance to turn back time stolen by you."** Chara licked their lips at that last part.

"What are you going to do to me?" Ruby stopped at the edge of the spotlight not wanting to walk into the darkness. But that didn't stop Chara from getting closer to their prey. "What do you want?!" Chara stopped just inches away from Ruby's face.

" **I want your body."** Ruby blushed a bit looking at Chara and Chara realized what they just said. **"Not like that!"** Chara flicked Ruby on the nose.

"Ow!" Ruby reflexively reached to cover her nose. But when her arms came out from under her hood Chara locked their arms with Ruby's in a tight grip. "Let go of me!" Ruby tried to pull away from the other version of her but it seemed an impossible task.

" **Look at you,"** Chara pulled Ruby closer so all she could see was their blood red eyes. **"You don't even understand what's going to happen to you do-"** Chara never got to finish because Ruby head-butted Chara in the face. **"YOU BITCH!"**

Ruby's act didn't really help though, as the ghost's grip didn't weaken this time. In fact after the ghost cursed they just started laughing. "Oh man." Ruby tried to think of something else to do. 'Last time I managed to beat this thing when I was at a disadvantage right? So I should be able to-'

" **Win this time as well?"** Chara smiled now fully recovered from Ruby's 'attack'. Ruby was shocked that the ghost version of her was able to finish her thought. **"I always love that look on people's face,"** Chara knocked Ruby's legs out for under her and pinned Ruby so her back was in the dirt and Chara was kneeling down on her chest. **"When they realize that their dead."**

Ruby tried to think of anything she could do to get out of this. Her arms were still pinned, so that wouldn't work. She couldn't try and head-but again but her target was well out of range. The only thing she hadn't tried yet was an attack with her legs; but as soon as Ruby thought that Chara moved so her legs were pinned as well.

"How-"

" **You still don't get it do you?"** Ruby looked up and saw their own face smiling back at them. **"I'm in your head, and soon I'll be in your body."** Chara pointed their hand over Ruby's heart. Going for what they hoped was a killing blow.

Then a crazy idea hit Ruby. It almost surly wouldn't work… but she had to try something!

"You have to tell me who you are!" Chara stopped and looked at Ruby. Ruby smiled up at Chara who looked back at her blankly.

All Chara could think to say was. **"What?"** Ruby's heart was still beating into overdrive but she managed to keep a level voice.

"It's just that…" Ruby's voice trailed on an optimistic tone under Chara's gaze. "I'd like to know who you really are-"

" **Oh, I get it."** Chara's smile grew in understanding. **"You want to by yourself time to figure out a way to beat me?"** Chara leaned in close to Ruby's face half expecting another head-butt as their eyes started glowing murderous red. **"Well guess what… you can't beat me."**

"That's not what I want!" Ruby yelled back into Chara's face. "I just want to talk to you!"

For a few moments Silver and **Red** eyesclashed.

' **I'm risking everything by doing this.'** Chara's face was a mask of confidence **. 'Ruby was so close to the edge I almost managed to completely break her…'** Chara silently grumbled remembering how Ruby was willing to kill before she reset **. 'But at least Ruby's accident allowed me to level the playing field.'**

It was true, even though Ruby had essentially fixed it so Chara couldn't feed off of the energy of the dust that covered Ruby's body; Chara did manage to get enough to overpower Ruby's soul in a much less stressful effort. But it had only worked so fluently before because Ruby was caught off guard by Flowey's knowledge and as soon as she knew she lost control of her body she actively fought back.

In short, Chara could over power Ruby's soul when she was awake now but they still weren't able to keep that control. However if they physically attacked Ruby with the fake Ruby body they used earlier to throw Ruby into the Underground in the first place. Chara could WIN… or lose.

' **But now… Now she wants to talk?** ' Chara was at least optimistic if not paranoid. **'There has to be something she's planning.'** It was too much of a goody to shoes thing to do. **'Then again… look who I'm talking to.'**

Ruby managed to level her voice and tried to talk again. "I want to know why you're so obsessed with taking my body." Chara tilted their head to the side, almost like a cat that just saw a mouse covered in yarn.

Chara's smile inhumanly widened trying to scare Ruby. **"You want to know me?"** Ruby nodded and Chara could tell that she meant it. **"And why is that?"**

Ruby's eyes dulled a bit and Chara could practically devour the despair coming off of her. "Because I didn't before… with Toriel I just attacked instead of talking to her, and it's clear I can't beat you in a fight." Ruby's eyes flared up at Chara all despair disappearing from them. "So I'm going to try and talk to you!"

"…" Chara let go of Ruby's arms and moved so they were sitting on her chest. Their smile didn't seem to change as they looked down at her. **"Well you picked one hell of a person to try that logic on."**

"So you are a person?" Ruby's hopeful tone cut short by a quick punch into her gut, complements of Chara. "What was that for?"

" **That was so you don't get any crazy ideas."** Chara made a tisk tisk motion as they got off of Ruby. **"So don't get to excited and try and run away partner. Because that wouldn't work out for you."** Chara said ominously and they walked to the other side of the spot light.

Despite the pain in her gut and her back still in the dirt, Ruby had a hopeful sparkle in her eyes. "You'll listen to me?" Chara scoffed at the sudden positivity and turned to Ruby.

" **What did I say about crazy ideas?"** Chara made a fist and Ruby gulped and reflexively protected her gut. **"Good. Now if you don't mind I really need to get a different body."** Chara looked at their copy of Ruby's hand. Only a perfectionist like Chara could see that it was starting to dissolve just like before.

' **Flowey didn't give me enough time to generate enough energy to keep this fake body going… I'll have to take my normal form.'** Chara silently frowned at the situation. **'But if I let Ruby talk then I should be able to create just enough power to kill her.'**

Ruby just got to her feet when Chara's words hit her. "Wait I thought you would hear me out first before you tried to take my body?!" Ruby started to sweat from the sudden betrayal. 'Oh man this girl is pure evil just lying to my face.'

Chara frowned at everything Ruby just said and thought. **"First I'm not a girl."** Chara motioned to their female form. **"Second I am PURE EVIL, literally I'm made up of the negativities of an entire village. Third I AM GOING TO TAKE YOUR BODY. I'm just going to change into a more comfortable form while you try to 'suade' me into not taking your body and then I'll take your body."**

"Oh…" Ruby didn't understand most of what Chara was trying to say. "But if you try to use my body wouldn't you be a girl?" Chara sighed regretting their choice to talk to Ruby. "Because I don't want to really think of how a guy trying to use my body would work out-"

" **JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT MY GENDER!"** Ruby took a step back clearly startled at the outburst. Chara took a few seconds to puff out the rest of their anger. With each puff Chara's fake Ruby body started to break away to reveal a child that still looked to be the same age as Ruby.

Chara had much paler skin compared to Ruby's skin tone and very scruffy Brown hair. For clothes Chara's new body was wearing a yellow and green stripped sweatshirt that covered all the way to their hands and they also wore plain brown pants. They were still the same height as Ruby and looked to be in the same physical condition as her and of course they had a those rosy cheeks on either side of their face.

Ruby actually found Chara's new form to be kind of cute which only made Chara puff in an angrier manor. After a minute of puffing Chara motioned in a 'let's get this over with' to Ruby. **"Ok, Now try and suade me."**

"Well…" Ruby was a bit at a loss of words now that she had the chance to talk. "Let's start with getting to know each other's names." Ruby smiled at her 'quick thinking'. "My name is-"

" **I already know your name, Ruby."** Chara interrupted already not liking this conversation, but they knew how to spice it up. **"And you can call me MASTER."** Chara grinned manically at Ruby, who for some reason just smiled victory.

"So you are a guy!" Chara's head tilted absently to the side as Ruby smiled at her knowing something new about Chara. "I figured as much, but if that's the case then I really need to explain-"

" **STOP TRYING TO FIGURE OUT MY GENDER!"** Ruby backed up a bit at Chara's outburst and the ghost child started puffing again. After a few more seconds of Ruby calmly waiting Chara groaned **"Chara, you can call me Chara."** Ruby looked blankly to the right.

"Well… what's your favorite color?" Chara deadpanned at the obvious ice breaker question. "I think it's either Green of Yellow." Ruby winked trying for an upbeat tone. Chara was not upbeat in their response.

" **It's red."**

"Really? That's my favorite color to!" Ruby couldn't believe how well this was going.

" **Do you want to know why it's my favorite color?"** Chara's smile made Ruby a bit uneasy but she didn't want to seem rude.

"Why is-"

" **Because red is the color of BLOOD!"** Ruby made a sour face at the response. **"What it is, and once I'm in your body you'll have to get used to that being the only color you'll get to see… Well if you survive that is."**

Ruby tried to change her sour face into a slightly optimistic one. "Ok… so my next question is-"

" **What's my favorite food?"** Chara cut Ruby off again in a slightly disinterested tone. **"It's actually kind of funny, so I was killing this baby while its mom was bleeding to death next to it-"**

"Why are you so focused on killing?" Ruby's serious question caught Chara of guard. The ghost looked at Ruby blankly and Ruby figured that she might not get an answer. "When I went on a mission with Qrow before, I got to meet a guy that wanted to 'see the world burn'… but not to anything closed to you." Chara scoffed.

" **You remember that story I told you?"** This time Ruby looked blankly at Chara. Chara realized that they were disguised as Yang when they told it. **"The story that Yang told you is the reason for my… LV. of violence."** Chara chuckled a bit at the pun and realized that its confusing sub-text of it.

It took a few seconds for Ruby to understand what Chara was referring to. But when she remembered the story of the pure village and Ruby almost started to cry. "That's so…"

" **TERRIFYING?! HORRIBLE?! TWISTED?!"**

"Sad." Chara was surprised by Ruby's genuine devastated tone. "I'm sorry that happened to you." Chara sneered in Ruby's sad expression.

" **You do realize that I was the orphan of negativity that killed all those people, RIGHT!?"**

"I know and it's sad that you were forced to have all those negative emotions inside of you when you were just an orphan." Ruby's empathetic eyes looked into Chara's own. "I'm sorry that happened to you but I can't let you use my body to kill people."

Chara smirked and turned away from Ruby. **"As if I cared about anything you had to say."** Chara tried to hide the wobble in their voice and started to summon their fake Ruby body. **"But if you're done talking then I'll take your body now."**

Ruby shook her head. "I still have two more-" Chara groaned making Ruby fault a bit with her words. "Um… Flowey said that I had his power to reset time-" Chara groaned again.

" **That one is so simple an idiot could figure it out."** Ruby pouted slightly at being called an idiot. **"Well it's true. But yes you ended up getting his power from me since the semblance to reverse time was originally mine, and when I tried to gain control of your body, your soul… somehow managed to absorb my semblance."** Chara had a good idea of how or rather who made that so, but Chara didn't want to explain Gaster to Ruby anytime soon.

' **He's the real stalker now.'** Chara glanced at the darkness surrounding them. For a second Chara swore they heard a cold breeze whisper something to them. But Chara couldn't make out any words.

Ruby still pouting was still surprised that the ability to reverse time could be a semblance. With a power like that she could literally do anything they wanted with no consequence. Ruby's pouted face shifted to a depressed expression. "The only effect is on yourself…"

Chara looked back over at Ruby and realized what she meant. **"Well yes, not counting Flowey, yourself and me; everyone else in the universe won't remember your actions if you reset to before you did them."** Chara wondered if Gaster could remember as well considering he wasn't technically grounded to reality.

Chara's response made since to Ruby, Froggit and Toriel seemed just like they had the first time around. That just left… "My last question…" Ruby's voice caught in her throat but she forced them out anyway. "Did I kill Toriel or did you kill Toriel?"

Chara could fell the wave of depression coming from Ruby, and they smiled. **"If I said myself would that make you feel better?"** Ruby looked up and saw Chara's smiling expression. Ruby lowered her head. **"Right. Because, deep in your soul you know that you were the one that killed her."** Chara shrugged. **"I was just making the best out of the situation."**

"I know." Ruby's tone was full of defeat and Chara's smile widened now that the questions were over.

" **Welp that's you last question."** Chara snapped and their fake Ruby body overlaid with their current body. **"So I'll be taking your body now."** Chara dashed forward and japed Ruby in the heart.

"GAH!" Ruby barely had any time to react as her aura kicked in trying to save her from Chara's death grip. "W- Wait!" Ruby tried to remove Chara's hand but the ghost twisted their hand and tore Ruby's heart. "GAAAAAHHHH!"

Ruby felt her soul shatter as Chara crushed Ruby's heart in her chest. The once souled body stood limply in Chara's grip.

" **Goodbye… Ruby."** Chara watched Ruby's eyes close and caught it the body before it fell on the ground. **"I'll make sure your body sees its full use."** Chara dissolved their fake Ruby body so they could enter the original.

Chara opened their eyes and raised a hand to block out the spotlight shining into them. And their arm responded perfectly blocking the light from reaching Chara's purest red eyes and wide smile.

" **I did it…"** Chara sat up looking down at the body that was once Ruby Rose. Chara tried wiggling their feet and the black boots followed their orders. **"Yes!"** Chara made a fist. **"YES!"** Chara bolted up to their feet and almost blacked out from a mountain of dizziness.

" **Wow…"** Chara put a hand on their head to steady themselves. **"Where did that come from- oh…"** Chara looked at the hand sized hole in their chest where they just tore Ruby's heart. A large amount of blood was still spilling out of the wound. **"Probably should have thought about that detail of the plan."**

Chara was worried that the body might die on them but then Chara remembered that they had an aura now along with their magic. **"Duh!"** Chara placed their hand over the wound and after a few moments the blood started to draw itself back into Chara's new body.

Chara felt their new heart mend itself and the hole healed over. Chara felt their new heart start beating and they started to actually breathe for the first time in almost ten thousand years. **"Still smells like a muggy cave."** Chara smiled as they ran their hands over the soft cloth of Ruby's dress.

" **This is wonderful! I'm completely unopposed and now I'll get to have my fun-"** Chara stopped when they felt a familiar resistance. **"No!"** Chara slammed their fist into the earth. **"NO!"** Chara redirected their attention as they looked for the source of the resistance.

Chara franticly looked around what was left of Ruby's mind and found the source. Fragments of Ruby's soul were scattered around her mind and desperately trying to pull themselves back together. The fragments were bright red and seemed to avoid Chara at all cost, like they knew the ghost was the reason they were broken.

At first Chara was pissed but then they just smiled when they realized that the fragments were scared of them. **"Oh come on Ruby."** Chara loomed over the largest fragment that had just reached another fragment. **"It probably hurts like hell to try and keep going on like this."**

Chara placed their foot over the fragments and waited for them to touch. As soon as they did Chara slammed their foot down on the fragments. **"And it's going to keep on hurting."** Chara removed their foot to see the once red fragments were now black and unmoving. **"But if you want to try and resist me to the very end…"**

Chara zipped over to another fragment and poked it. **"Then I'm going to make you suffer until the very end."** The poked fragment spasmed for a second and wilted cracking into a million pieces of black ashes. **"Besides this is a great warm up for me, once I turn my attention over to the real world."** Chara smiled as they started to break all of the remaining fragments of Ruby's soul.

The fragments couldn't get away and all it really took was an effortless poke from Chara to kill one. But thankfully for Chara there were about 20 of the fragments to end. **"You know,"** Chara talked to a small fragment in their hand as they crushed several under her foot like Chara was playing hopscotch. **"After I kill all the monsters in the underground I'll go pay a visit to your home in… oh what was it called?"**

Chara tried to remember what Ruby's hometown was as they slowly crunched the fragment in their hand. **"Patch that's it,"** Chara tossed the black ashes to the side and elbowed another fragment like a wrestler. **"And, well you know,"** Chara turned their head to another fragment and bit into it. **"Kill everyone you know and love, and well everyone else in the world to."**

Chara spat the ash out of their mouth and got to their feet looking around them. **'Only 4 left.'** Chara calmly walked towards the last 2 that were still trying to combine. Chara picked up both fragments and held them just close enough so they could never reach each other. **"And then after that… Well I'm not sure."**

Chara set both soul fragments on fire and watched them burn. **"Oh I know!"** Chara appeared in front of the second to last fragment and dropped the 2 still burning fragments onto it. **"I'll just keep resetting the time line and do it all over again."** Chara kicked the now melted but still burning fragments into the pile of black ashes. Chara watched as all the ashes of Ruby's soul burned in the black flames.

" **You know what the best part of this whole thing is?"** Chara gently picked up the last fragment. Its bright red glow started to fade as black cracks started to work around it, Chara's very presence was killing it. **"If I reset the time line you'll come back and I'll get to do this to you all over again."** Just before the last spark of red could flicker out Chara slammed their hands together like they just killed a fly.

" **So I'll see you the next time around-"**

* * *

 _ **But Ruby Refused.**_

* * *

" **WHAT!"** The fragment burned in Chara's hands and they were forced to drop the fragment. The fragment was now glowing an even brighter red than before. Chara sneered at the insignificant mite. **"DIE!"** Chara slammed their foot crushing the fragment.

* * *

 _ **But Ruby Refused.**_

* * *

Chara moved their foot to not just see that the fragment wasn't dead but it was now moving like it was never hurt in the first place. **"I SAID DIE!"** Chara slammed both their fists into the blinding red light.

* * *

 _ **But Ruby Refused.**_

* * *

" **IF YOU REFUSE TO DIE BY MY HAND!"** Chara picked up the still hot fragment and threw it into the now raging black fire. **"THEN MELT ALONG WITH YOUR ASHES!"** Chara watched the bright red light try and fight off the gigantic black fire, and eventually it disappear entirely leaving only the black flame.

Chara grumbled as they looked down at their sizzling hands. **"That girl was a bitch."** But Chara smiled at the burning pain. **"Can't wait to kill her all over agai-"**

* * *

 _ **BUT RUBY REFUSED.**_

* * *

The raging black flame changed to a warm red fire before Chara's confused eyes. **"You've got to be kidding me."** Chara saw that now all around the fragment, the ashes started to change to the same Red light. **"HOW ARE YOU EVEN DOING THIS?! HOW ARE YOU EVEN CONSCIOUS?!"** Chara started to pace towards the red flame.

"I don't believe she is." A familiar voice said directly behind Chara. Chara quickly turned and saw Gaster standing their calmly watching the warm fire rebuild Ruby's soul. "I think she just refuses to give up to evil."

" **You're doing this!"** Chara redirected their anger at the ghostly skeleton. **"I had her beat then you just had to draw her soul back together!"** Gaster didn't even look down at Chara, he didn't want to miss a second of the warm light of Ruby's soul on his bones.

"I could have done that… but that would be stupid because I knew she can do that on her own." Gaster's sarcastic tone caught Chara off guard. "And next you're going to ask how I would even know that and then you'd insult me."

Chara scoffed trying to hide their confusion and skipped right to their insult. **"Is it because you're 'The 1st Royal Scientist' or is it because you're 'The Smartest Monster in the World'?"** Chara's mocking made Gaster's vision break from the warm flame.

" _Do not speak my titles like they are false."_ There was a dangerous edge to Gaster's tone as his empty eye sockets glowed white. Chara grinned back at the scary scientist. "Anyway, my time is limited so I should get this done quickly." Gaster turned away from Chara and walked towards the now almost fully reformed soul.

" **I knew it,"** Chara grabbed the end of Gaster's black lab coat. **"You want Ruby's soul just like I-"** Chara didn't get to finish their sentence because Gaster sucker punched them in the gut. In Gaster's opinion it was the best way to shut up any child.

"Please do not insult me any further by thinking my plan is as shallow as yours." Gaster waited a few seconds for Ruby's soul to take on its full heart shape, meanwhile Chara slowly recovered from the unexpected sucker punch. Just before Ruby's soul could full mend back into its whole heart shape Gaster placed his right hand over the red shape.

Chara watched as Gaster's hand melted into white goo and covered Ruby's soul. The goo seeped into each crack preventing the fragments from coming together into one solid shape. In response to this the fragments started to violently shake back and forth trying to get the goo off. Gaster narrowed his eyes and another skeletal right hand came out of his cloak and held the soul to get it to stop shaking.

" **Whatever you're trying to do it isn't going to work."** Chara tried to dissuade Gaster's plan, whatever that may be. **"It's easy to see that Ruby will just REFUSE you like she did with me."**

Gaster didn't glanced back at Chara. "You tried to kill her from the very first moment you first saw her. While I haven't done anything hostile towards her…" Gaster let his sentence trail off as Ruby's soul finally stopped shaking back and forth.

The goo that was preventing Ruby's soul fragments from becoming one again had started to glow red. While not in an exactly similar tone to the fragments red, Ruby's soul didn't seem to want to reject the goo anymore as it permanently set itself into Ruby's soul. In fact, as far as the Soul could tell the goo was just another fragment of Ruby's soul that desperately wanted to be whole again.

" **What did you do to her soul?"** Chara growled at Gaster who just calmly turned around to look back at the once terrifying child. **"I SAID-"**

"I made Ruby's soul compatible." Gaster calmly walked to the side as Ruby's soul dashed to the driver's seat of her body. "Well… in about 5 years." Gaster then had cast a worried look. "Wait Ruby is 10 years old correct? That could be a problem if I got my time chart off."

Chara looked on in confusion as Gaster pulled out a note book and frantically turned to a bookmarked page. **"What is Ruby compatible with now?"** Gaster didn't pay any attention to Chara as he found the page he was looking for.

"Oh good and now if I'm not mistaken I have about 10 minutes before I have to leave to-" Chara ran up and took Gaster's note book from his hands. For a millisecond Chara grinned with the satisfaction that they had a victory. But Chara's victory only lasted that millisecond long as Gaster grabbed Chara by the neck and lifted them off the ground. _"GIVE BACK THAT BOOK."_

" **Tell me what you did to Ruby!"** Chara growled back at Gaster's dangerously calm tone. **"Or better yet just tell me your whole plan then I'll give you this back."** As Chara looked into Gaster's white dots for eyes Chara could see how far past insanity Gaster really was.

He didn't just cross the sand line on the beach; Gaster swam to the other side of the ocean and was attacked by sharks on the way there.

Gaster dropped Chara and with a snap of his fingers several huge Gaster blasters appeared all around the two ghosts. These floating weapons would normal resemble a T-Rex's skull with 5 horns around end of the skull. But these ones were Gaster's personal Blasters. These were cracked in the same places as Gaster's own skull but the shape wasn't that of any creature Chara knew off the top of their head.

But thanks to Ruby's memories they were able to tell that those Skulls were those of Beowolfs.

"In 6 years Ruby will defeat a being that gains the power to rewrite the world." Gaster started to explain very quickly as Chara just looked on in a confused state. "They are able to do this by obtaining the power of the 4 maidens of the 4 seasons, and once they manage to defeat this being Ruby will achieve her 'Good Ending'."

Chara blinked a few times trying to process everything Gaster just said. After a bout 30 seconds Chara had just one question. **"How is any of that part of your plan?"** Gaster narrowed his dots for eyes clearly not wanting to respond to that question. **"Oh you don't want to tell me? Then I'll just destroy this book."** Chara smiled despite the fact that the Gaster Blasters were circling right over their head.

"When I became like you I was given a… I suppose you could call it a vision." Gaster's form glitches for a few moments at the memory of his body being ripped threw out time and space. "I saw every possibility for this world in that instant. I was surprised by what I saw."

Chara knew what happened next. Gaster had appeared on the same reality of existence that Chara was trapped in. But from that moment out Gaster never said anything or did anything in that hellhole of a reality. He would just sit there looking at the floor.

" **That still doesn't explain your plan you know."** Chara opened to a random page in the book and started to tear it out.

"I'm going to absorb Ruby's soul." Chara stopped and looked up at Gaster with a raised eyebrow.

" **What did you say about my plans being shallow compared to yours?"** Chara closed the book but made no intentions of giving it back just yet. **"I mean granted you want Ruby's soul not her body but if that's the case then I'm surprised you didn't want to help me kill Ruby when she first fell down here."**

Gaster sighed in disappointment. "That would be pointless; if my plan was to take Ruby's soul I would just have killed her from the moment of her birth." Chara was surprised by Gaster's off handed acceptance that he would kill a baby before it even got to see the world. "I need Ruby's soul when she has the powers of the one of the maidens of the 4 seasons."

" **And what's wrong with the maiden's that are alive right now?"** Chara knew that the Maidens powers basically recycled their powers and souls to some other pour girl in the world when they're killed so Chara figured that there were 4 maidens running around somewhere in the world right now.

"None of the existing Maidens are compatible… with myself as long as I'm in this… condition." Gaster's form glitched again and Chara narrowed their eyes in understanding. Chara thought they had Gaster's whole plan figured out now.

" **So you waited until someone walked into Mt. Ebott, and on the off chance that it was a girl, you would wait for me to literally tear their soul apart and place some goo in them so she could be compatible with you."** Chara mockingly clapped. **"Well that is one of the most contrived plans I've ever heard of."**

"You are assuming that chance was a large part of my plan." Gaster didn't like being made fun of, but he certainly despised it when people he was talking to didn't pay attention to what he was saying. "When I said I would have kill Ruby at the moment of her birth, and when I said I saw all of this worlds possibilities what did you think I meant?"

Chara shrugged. **"I assumed you were just trying to intimidate me just like your blasters up there are trying to do."** Chara pointed to one of the many wolf shaped blasters still over their head. **"I believe you would call that an intimidating action."**

"I told you those facts so you could conclude that I've still been able to manipulate the world while you just ranted that you should have the right to every living thing on the planet." Chara frowned at the clear insult directed at them.

" **Well what did you do to 'manipulate' the world?"** Gaster's set smile somehow widened.

"For starters I stopped Frisk from ever coming here." Chara looked at Gaster with a clear 'uh sure' face. "Right you never got to meet Frisk, well trust me when I say that you two would be an even more toxic couple than you and Ruby."

Chara didn't like being called couple with Ruby but let it slide. **"So you were able to stop some kid I never met before from meeting me?"** Chara's sarcastic tone made it clear their lack of belief in Gaster's claim.

"Originally the child named Frisk with a similar semblance towards your own would have gone through the underground similar to what Ruby is going to do now. But I… arraigned it so Ruby would come here instead." Gaster's form glitched again but instead of returning to his normal form Gaster's form now perfectly resembled Ruby's uncle Qrow smiling vacantly down at Chara.

" **Oh I get it."** Chara grinned thinking of how Ruby would react to finding out that her uncle was Gaster. **"You killed the original Qrow so you could make Ruby come here."** Chara could admit and admire that it was pretty cleaver and ruthless.

"Nope." Qrow-Gaster wagged his finger at Chara. "Killing the original Qrow would require too much effort. I merely altered his mind so if he was going to do something that could derail my plan I just gave him a new thought." Qrow-Gaster looked off to his right, mentally reaching out to make sure that Qrow was still running towards Beacon. "I just took his over idea of going to save Ruby and changed it to save the head master of a Beacon Academy." Gaster smiled a bit at the thought of the school body seeing Qrow try and save Ozpin from nothing.

" **So that's why Qrow didn't come down into the underground."** Chara was a bit disappointed that Gaster didn't kill Qrow but whatever. **"So just to make it clear you made it so a girl that is destined to defeat some all-powerful being fall into the underground, get her soul torn up by me and make it so Ruby will be compatible with your soul so you can absorb her more easily."**

Gaster shrugged. "That's about the 1 fifth of my plan that I over explained to you yes." Chara's face adopted a confused stare as Gaster snapped his fingers. "That reminds me!" Gaster pulled out a notebook that looked just like the one Chara was holding. "I need to get going if I'm going to make it to the concert."

" **WAIT!"** Gaster looked up as Chara pointed to the note book in their hand and then to the one in Gaster's hand. **"How? What? But I-"** Chara opened to the book mark paged that Gaster was looking at earlier.

MADE YOU LOOK, YOU BRAT ;)

"Oh right." Gaster said blankly as Chara tossed the empty book at his head. "I've seen this all play out already Chara." One of the Gaster Blasters reduced the book to ashes before it could even get close to Gaster's face. "Nothing in this timeline can surprise me or threaten my plan, if anyone even manages to figure it out."

Chara started to say tauntingly **, "Well too late for that but I think you just forgot that you explained your plan-"**

"It doesn't matter if you know my plan right now anyways." Gaster tapped his cracked cranium. "You will just forget anyway." A pit of fear started to grow in Chara's chest.

Chara knew what he was referring to. When Gaster had himself torn across time and space everyone that knew him had their memory of him torn out of their heads. As far as Chara could tell they weren't affected by this because they weren't anchored to reality.

" **But I'm not like the rest of the people that forgot you. I'm not anchored to this-"** Chara's words cut off as they realized that wasn't true any longer. **"I'm anchored to Ruby."**

"And in about 30 seconds you will completely forget all about me, my plan and all those years I experimented on your soul after you… _died_." Gaster calmly put his journal away and he focused off north looking for someone in particular.

" **Well you miscalculated one thing Gaster."** Chara grinned trying to nail one last taunt into Gaster. **"But if I can't take Ruby's body now then I'm going back to my B+ plan."** Gaster chuckled.

"I'm sure that will work out for you." Gaster's form glitched again as he connected to his target. "But now if you don't mind I have a concert to attend." Gaster's form settled on a form that Chara didn't recognize, but Gaster knew her as an 18 year old Winter Schnee. "It's a very defining moment for Weiss, and I'd hate to see it end in _heart break_."

 _ **Then Chara forgot what happened next.**_

* * *

 _ **Don't you just love it when a puzzle starts falling into place.**_

 _ **And to stop all your worrying faces Ruby is fine... well I mean as fine as you can be with a murderous Ghost following you around, and you being trapped in a land of the monsters, and well I guess she still has some stuff to deal with but this was a very Chara focused chapter so whatever. Point is Ruby is fine...**_

 _ **Anyway leave a review of your thoughts, or PM me if your weird and want a more immediate response and I hope you guys, gals and others are ready because next Chapter I finally get to write one of my favorite characters in Undertale.**_

 _ **P.G.P. out until next chapter.**_


	8. Chapter 7: Dogs, Snow and Skeletons

_**Man this chapter is a lot shorter than I wanted it to be but I figured the last chapter was bit of an over load to the eyes and a tad boring but with both my editors back to help me I feeling a lot more cofident about this chapter than I probably should.  
**_

 _ **On a bit more nuetral note there is some news, not so much about the fanfic but it could affect my acount and to an extent this story. But I'll go over that at the end of chapter.**_

 _ **So please injoy this chapter, also I don't RWBY OR UNDERTAIL.**_

* * *

sans the skeleton was sitting at his station in the Snowdin woods like he did every day. It was an ok morning so far. Kinda boring but it could be weirder, like if all the snow just melted for no reason and the whole forest was just a normal forest for once. That would be different, weird but different. "if it ever got that hot then I bet the trees would be whistling for the K-9 unit to come by." Sans chuckled a bit as he stepped out of his station and started walking down the forest's path like he did any time he wanted to.

Eventually sans reached a large door that was set in an even larger rock wall. For a few moments sans stood in front of the large door and sighed. "i doubt she's got time today anyway." sans turned around and started to walk back the path he came.

Before sans could take 2 steps he heard a large creaking noise behind him. He turned to see the large door start to open and a muffled voice yell through it. "Oh come on! Why do big doors have to be so heavy!?" The door stopped creaking open. "Oh… *Pant* Why… *pant* gah…" It sounded like some was hitting the door with slight frustration.

sans stood there for a few seconds wondering what he should do. No monsters ever came out of the ruins except those strange spiders, than sans realized exactly who it was panting on the other side of the door. But before sans could act the Human on the other side of the door started pushing again with renewed determination.

sans acting quickly made all the snow that was gathered at the top of the trees fall. This created the illusion of a snow storm for sans to hide in. Luckily for sans he could see just fine through the snow thanks to his 'skelly vision', which also let him see other souled beings souls.

Just as he finished creating his fake snow storm the large door was flung open to reveal Ruby panting after the effort of pushing a large door open. When Ruby felt the cold snow hit her, she pulled her hood around her like a cowl to keep her warm.

"Oh man…" Ruby squinted straight ahead trying to see through the snow. Unfortunately she couldn't see any more than a foot in front of her own face. "Well at least I'm on a path… I think." Ruby puffed into her hood and started slowly walking forward.

About 4 feet in front of her sans was surprised to see a human after about... 1000-ish years of not seeing one. But he put his mild fascination aside because Ruby was walking right towards him and if he didn't move Ruby would be sure to see him. Just to make sure he didn't make any noise sans teleported so he was next to the large door and behind Ruby.

Ruby continued to walk forward completely unaware of sans' presents.

sans calmly waited a few seconds for Ruby to walk ahead then he started to follow her matching her pace. While both Ruby and sans continued to walk through the blinding blizzard sans, mostly curious, looked at Ruby's soul with his 'skelly vision'. sans was a bit surprised by what he saw.

Ruby's soul like all souls was in a heart shape and it glowed a healthy red that matched her hood. But it looked like it was cracked. Not so much like a cracked egg but it kind of reminded sans of when he would look at a finished puzzle. All the pieces were there and they all fit perfectly but you could still see the lines that made up the pieces.

'wonder how her soul got like that…' sans said to himself as the two continued their walk back towards sans' station. 'oh right… i'm supposed to be at my station…' sans realized that he should probably say hello. So sans stopped the fake blizzard and Ruby stopped and looked up to notice an open wooden gate that she was about to pass through.

"Well this is a good sign…" Ruby figured that if a gate was around here than other monster like Toriel should be around here to. Of course there could also be monsters like Flowey that want to kill her and take her soul around here to. "Maybe I should just try and stay away from the monsters… But what if I get hungry later could I even ask for food… On the other hand-"

sans watched Ruby as she continued to talk about what she should do and he felt bad for her. A little girl like her shouldn't be wondering around the forest all by herself with no one they could trust. Just then sans got an idea, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a fist sized whoopie cushion and held it in his right hand.

'whoopie cushions are always a good… ice breakers.' sans winked at an unimpressed piece of ice on the side of the road. 'wow cold crowd.' sans mentally quipped and started to walk forward but stopped when he saw what Ruby was doing.

Ruby stopped talking to herself and was furiously trying to get the white snow that fell during the fake blizzard off her hood. sans thought this was weird but he figured every ones got a strange thing about themselves. So sans didn't judge and continued to walk forward to an unsuspecting Ruby.

In Ruby's mind she didn't see the white flakes as snow, but as monster dust.

He stopped an arm length behind Ruby, his friendly smile wide over his face. _"Human."_ sans used his _dramatic_ voice to speak and Ruby froze. _"Don't you know how to greet a new pal?"_ sans out stretched his hand. _"Turn around , and shake my hand."_

Ruby turned and sans could see her eyes were closed shut from fear as she faced him. sans felt a bit bad for scaring her like this but she slowly out stretched her hand a bit lower than sans' hand. "h- hey… p- pal." Ruby's voice was a mix of scared and optimistic. 'I'M GOING TO DIE!'

Ruby felt a cold boney hand wrap around her own and heard a whoopie cushion go off. "nice to meet you to… pooper." Ruby opened her eyes in confusion and stared back at sans. Both took in each other's features.

sans was wearing his normal blue hoodie, under it was a skeleton t-shirt that had a rib cage printed on it, he also wore some black workout pants and slippers. He was also a skeleton, with little white lights in his eye sockets that Ruby guessed acted like his eyes. He would also be a little taller than Ruby if her combat boots didn't give her a boost in height that boots often give people. He also had a wide smile that didn't move as he spoke.

"heheh…. The old whoopie cushion in the hand trick always makes me smile." sans winked at Ruby as he looked her over, now without a blizzard blocking his normal vision "heh… cool eyes kid. I'm sans, sans the skeleton." Sans let go of Ruby's hand and put his empty hands into his pockets.

Ruby looked blankly back at sans and realized he was waiting to hear her name. "Oh I'm Ruby Rose." Ruby scratched the back of her head and a heard the whoopie cushion sans placed in her hand go off again. Again Ruby looked blankly at sans and his grin widened.

"that's hilarious." sans chuckled and he was surprised to see that Ruby start to laugh as well. It was nice for her to laugh after… everything that just happened. "heh, anyway you're a human right? i'm supposed to be on lookout for humans walking through this forest and capture them." Ruby's laughter stopped abruptly and she looked back at sans.

'No…' A image of Toriel convincing her to fight flashed through her mind. "So… you're going to-"

"but i'm not really into that kind of thing." sans winked at Ruby and the pit of despair disappeared from Ruby's stomach. sans could see the worry of having to fight leave Ruby's face but he didn't want to give her too much hope considering one other monster in the area. "now my brother, papyrus, on the other hand well he is a human hunting fan-"

Just then sans and Ruby heard frantic pacing through the forest that seemed to be coming towards them. Sans knew only one monster that ran that awkwardly through the forest. "Huh?" Ruby turned around and she could see a tall figure stumbling over some branches in the path. "Who's that?"

"oh that's him right now." sans quickly pushed Ruby through the gate thing and next to an out of place lamb that was about Ruby's size. "quick hide on the other side of this lamb so my bro doesn't find you." Ruby's blank look returned.

"What?" Ruby looked at sans still smiling face and realized he wasn't going to really do anything else but stand there. "Um… Right!" Ruby used her semblance and dashed to the other side of the lamp leaving a few rose petals hovering in front of sans.

sans grabbed one of the petals out of reflex as the others were lost to the wind. 'huh, she's got a semblance and silver eyes… cool.' Sans threw the rose petal to the wind and turned towards the racing figure. "sup, bro."

The tall figure stopped in clear view for Ruby to see. It was another skeleton guy; he wore what looked like awesome Halloween battle armor that consisted of red gloves, red boots, blue briefs, white armor over his chest with several gold strips on the side, and a flowing red scarf. He was also much taller than sans but a lot skinnier than sans as well. It was at this point that Ruby realized something seriously wrong with her hiding spot.

"YOU KNOW WHATS 'SUP,' BROTHER!" Papyrus' caps locked voice sounded a bit annoyed. Sans shrugged. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALEBRATED YOU'RE PUZZLES!"

'What?' Ruby felt like she was eavesdropping on a private conversation but it was too late to move now.

sans faked a surprised look. "wow i really need to get on that."

"INDEED YOU DO!" Papyrus narrowed his eyes noticing sans fake expression. It was easy to see because the only expression sans could make was a wide grin. "YOU JUST STAND OUTSIDE YOUR STAION ALL DAY! WHAT DO YOU EVEN DO OUT HERE?"

Sans shrugged again and looked over at the lamp Ruby was standing next to but for sans he could only see the lamp Ruby was 'hiding' behind. "i just stare at this lamp. it's really interesting you know?" Ruby, who was standing completely still, started to sweat in the cold breeze. "do you wanna look at it?"

"NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" Papyrus started stamping his foot like a kid throwing a tantrum. "WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL BE THE ONE!"

'Don't notice me…' Ruby thought quietly as Papyrus' attitude switched to an over confident hero. He put his hand on his chest and let his red scarf flap in the wind. 'The cold wind…'

"THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… WILL GET EVERYTHING I UTTERLY DESERVE!" Ruby couldn't tell whether Papyrus would shed a tear or not. "RESPECT… RECOGNITION… I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!"

'Huh,' A thought hit Ruby when Papyrus said that. 'That's just like how I want to become a huntress… Qrow didn't believe I could become one either.' Ruby didn't see Papyrus as a human hunter any more but as just someone who wanted to make an impact on the world.

"PEOPLE WILL ASK TO BE MY… FRIEND?" At that Ruby was almost on team Papyrus. "I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING!" Almost.

sans looked towards the lamp. "hmmm… maybe this lamp will help you out." It also occurred to Ruby that at this point that sans may not be a big help keeping human souls out of monster's hands despite his clear want to.

"SANS! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Papyrus started stamping his foot again. "YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND AND BOONDOGGLE!" Ruby thought it was a bit funny that Papyrus was making up words just she and Yang do whenever they were alone.

"hey take it easy, I've gotten a ton of work done today." Both Ruby and Papyrus could tell what sans was going to say next. "a skele-ton." sans turned and winked directly at Ruby.

'Oh no…' Yang had just started a hopefully not long joke phase where she would tell jokes that were VERY obvious or stupid jokes and play them off like they were funny. While Ruby never openly said that she didn't like this phase, they did get old after the 49th one.

"SANS!" Papyrus had a very similar opinion only his was closer to the 261,660,000th one.

"oh, come on your smiling." sans turned back at Papyrus who was now looking at sans with a salty expression. But because he was a skeleton Papyrus was smiling, then it hit Ruby that sans and Papyrus probably couldn't make any other expressions with their mouths but smile.

'At least their not like Chara…' Ruby thought glumly. She still couldn't figure out what happened to the ghost. The last thing she could remember was Chara attacking her and some black fire. Then when Ruby woke up Chara wasn't around, but they were still there. Ruby could still 'feel' Chara somehow but she couldn't see them anywhere. 'Their probably sleeping or… something…'

"I KNOW AND I HATE IT!" Ruby was brought back to the brother's conversation as Papyrus sighed… somehow. "WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH TO BE REGOGNISED?"

"well… it defiantly sounds like you're working yourself…" Again sans turned towards Ruby and shrugged at her. "down to the bone."

"SANS STOP WINKING AT THAT LAMP! IT'S CREEPY…" Papyrus mentally reminded himself to find sans a girlfriend at some point. "ANYWAY I'M GOING TO ATTEND TO MY PUZZELS! AS FOR YOUR WORK…" Papyrus' eyes sparkled. "PUT SOME REAL BACKBONE INTO IT!"

sans acted shocked by Papyrus's joke while the taller brother ran off the way he came. "NYHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!" Ruby almost moved out from her 'hiding spot' but Papyrus ran back. "HEH." And then he ran back down the path.

sans watched him go and waited until he actually left. "ok he's gone, so you can come out now." Ruby stepped out of her 'hiding spot' and looked over at sans who was just casually staring at her. "sup."

"Hey, so I really appreciate your help and all…" Ruby brushed off some snow that got on her hood. "But I have to ask, How did that work?"

Sans did his equivalent of raising an eyebrow. "what do ya' mean?" Ruby moved so they were behind the lamp again.

"I mean yeah; from where you were standing this lamp was actually blocking me." Ruby then moved so she was in an equivalent position to how Papyrus was seeing her. So in short she was just standing next to the lamp. "But to your Brother I was just standing next to it."

sans shrugged. "well the plan was to trick him to thinking you were also a lamp, that's why I kept mentioning 'the lamp'. what did you think I was ratting you out or something?" Ruby looked blankly at sans. "hey i'd never do that to you ruby, ok?"

Ruby couldn't really be mad at sans now that he explained his idea so she just smiled. "Well I guess that makes sense, sorry for doubting you sans." sans shrugged and he walked over towards his station.

"well i can't really blame yah for being cautious. i mean we both just met each other and all." sans stopped when he was in front of his station and turned back towards Ruby. "so uh… can I ask you a favor?"

Ruby looked a bit surprised that sans would ask her a favor but she figured that she owed him for distracting his brother. "Sure sans, what is it?"

sans looked over Ruby for a second before responding. "i… well my bro hasn't ever gotten to see a real human before. So I was wondering if you could… lift his bones by letting him see you." Sans winked at the pun trying to cover up an awkward felling growing in him.

"But I thought you brother would hunt me down if he saw a human." Ruby didn't want to reject sans request and she was pretty sure she could out run Papyrus… but at the same time she didn't want to run the risk of something going wrong. 'Like with Toriel-' Ruby stopped that thought right there.

"papyrus would defiantly hunt you down, but he isn't the kind of monster who would actually hurt a human." Sans winked at Ruby. "in fact there are plenty of monsters that wouldn't really have any hatred for a human like you."

"What do you mean by that?" Ruby figured that some monsters like Toriel wouldn't hurt her but not a plenty. sans scratched the side of his skull trying to think of a good way to explain.

"well if you were living in a town and… an angle dressed in weird clothes walked by you wouldn't just kill her," Ruby looked down at her hands for a second and she remembered that those are the hands of a murderer. " _would you?"_ Ruby looked up at sans' kind gaze and she smiled.

"Of course not…" Ruby then processed all of what sans just said. "Hay! What's wrong with my outfit?" Ruby squints at sans who instantly looked to the side trying to think of a way to get out of this predicament without having an angry girl as an end result.

"um… well you have a hole in your outfit." sans pointed to where there was in fact a hole in Ruby's outfit right over her heart. "pretty bad outfit if it has a hole in it… right?" sans silently hoped that Ruby wouldn't be angry at him anymore.

Ruby looked down at the hole and realized that it was probably created when Chara attacked her and… tore her heart. 'Come to think about it how am I still alive if that happened to me?' Ruby wondered as a cold wind blew by and Ruby started to shake again.

"oh hold on a second." sans noticing that Ruby was shaking went behind his station and started looking for something. Ruby pulled her hood around her like a cowl again and walked over to the station. "here it is." sans pulled out a hoodie similar to his own only is had several red blotches and snow over it. Sans had abandoned this hoodie when he got ketchup over it and just left it here out of laziness.

Ruby looked at the warmer piece of clothing like it was a super cookie. "Can I please borrow that?" sans chuckled and handed the hoodie to Ruby who started putting it on.

"don't mention it rubes?" sans walked back towards the forest path and a warmer Ruby followed. "sorry i don't have some pants for you though." sans shrugged at Ruby who just looked happy to have something warmer to wear in the cold.

"Oh don't worry about it sans." Ruby started to brush off some of the snow and scratched at one of the red spots on the hoodie. "What's this red stuff?"

"oh i spilled some ketchup on it and just never cleaned it off." Ruby nodded at sans explanation and continued to brush off more snow until it was clean. "so um… why are you doing that?" Ruby looked up at sans clearly not understanding what he meant. "do you have something against solid water or something?"

Ruby froze as she felt a familiar feeling start to spread around her. She at sans quizzical smiling face and her voice caught in her throat. "I… I'm a…"

" **Te** ll **hi** m **.** " A voice exactly like Ruby's started to whisper in her ear. **"** T **ell** h **i** m **you** w **an** te **d t** o **kil** l e **ve** ry **l** a **st** **mo** ns **t** er-"

"I just don't like snow!" Ruby yelled in an effort to quiet the genocidal voice version of herself. It seemed to work as she felt that feeling retreat… somewhere. Meanwhile sans looked a little startled that Ruby yelled but he played it… _cool_.

"ok. i don't need to know why i was just curious is all." Sans looked down the path his brother had ran down and Ruby sighed in relief that sans hadn't questioned her any further. "but about letting my bro see you, well as a human this time not as a lamb."

"Oh… of course, if I see him I'll make sure he knows I'm a human." Ruby figured that she sort of doubled owed sans now with the jacket and hiding her. "But your brother isn't going to hurt me right?"

"nah." Sans remembered when Papyrus thought he killed a puppy by telling it to play dead and how he locked himself in jail 'for life'. "i'm sure you two will just have a fun time… but without snow." Ruby forced herself to laugh at that last bit.

"Thanks sans… I…" Ruby's smile wavered for a second before stopping on a half-smile. "I really needed to hear some jokes." sans chuckled and started to walk towards the path that he had just walked down with Ruby.

"hay anytime you wanna hear a cleaver joke just ask my bro. I get all my puns from him." sans stopped next to the lamp and turned back towards Ruby a pointed down the path Papyrus had walked down. "if you head down that way you'll see my bro setting up his puzzles for humans."

Ruby stepped back on the path and looked to where sans was pointing. Ruby could just make out the edge of Snowdin forest. "Ok, I guess you have to stay here at your station right?" Ruby's tone for the first time in a while was optimistic and even hopeful at the thought of an adventure where she would try and outsmart a skeleton and his daring puzzles.

"nah." Ruby did a complete 180 and fell on her head. "you ok rube's?" sans watched Ruby bolt up, quickly scrap off any snow on her and look at sans with an 'are you serious?!' look. "am i serious about what?" sans was great at reading faces.

"Didn't your brother just tell you to stay here?" Ruby was surprised when sans shrugged.

"well I figured that if i walked up to him and told him 'hay bro a human is coming this way.' i'd figure he'd let me off the… hood." Sans snapped and as if on cue Ruby's hood flapped unamused in the breeze.

"…Good one?" Ruby tried for a positive tone and decided to give a weak thumps up as well. Then a thought hit Ruby. "But couldn't he think you're playing a prank on him or something and order you back here?"

Sans scratched his chin. "huh, i guess he could… but i'll just have to take that chance." Sans started to walk down the path in the opposite direction Papyrus had gone. "anyway i'll see you up a head i just have to do something really quick."

"Oh… ok," Ruby was a little hurt she wouldn't get to walk with sans for a bit but she just gave a casual wave. "See you in a bit Sans the Skeleton." sans waved and both of them walked down their respective paths.

A few paces later sans stopped in front of the large door Ruby had walked out of earlier. For a second he was tempted to walk through that door but before he could he slammed the door shut with his telekinetic powers. "heh… maybe in another time line lady." Then sans teleported and reappeared a few feet away from his brother who was looking for a doohickey for his puzzle.

* * *

"OH MY GOSH!" Ruby had stars in her eyes and she started shaking with joy when she saw lesser dog standing just outside the woods with his cute little sword and shield. "YOUR SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ADORABLE!" Ruby had been bugging her dad for a puppy for the past year and every time she saw one she started going crazy. Lesser dog looked over at Ruby and tilted his pointy head in a quizzical manor that almost killed Ruby.

Lesser dog was the lowest rank and least trained of Snowdin's K-9 unit but when he saw Ruby he started to wag his tail in excitement. 'If I get that human's soul than maybe I'll be top dog-' Lesser dog's thoughts were cut short when Ruby dashed up to him and started petting him uncontrollably.

"Who's a good Puppy? You are! Yes you are?" Ruby scratched behind the dog's ears and he instantly started nuzzling her with affection. "Awwwwwwww! YOU ARE SO CUTE!" Ruby continued to pet Lesser dog.

"BARK BARK!" Lesser dog fell on his back and Ruby started scratching his tummy. 'The human is super nice because she is petting me!'

"You like that boy?" Ruby didn't see the effect that her petting was having on the monster dog until she tried scratching his head again and couldn't find it when she reached for it. "Huh?" Ruby looked over at lesser dog's head and noticed that his neck had stretched a few feet away from his body like his neck was made up of elastic.

"BARK BARK!" Lesser dog didn't really seem bothered by his sudden case of giraffe neck.

"AH!" Ruby got up in surprise and Lesser dog's neck shrunk back down to its original length. "Oh… um… good monster dog?" Ruby pat Lesser dog on the head and he barked once and ran off.

'That human pet me! She's so nice!' and equivalent thoughts ran through lesser dog's head as he ran (on all 4s) back to Snowdin. "BARK BARK!" Was the last thing Ruby heard as the he ran off down the path.

"Bye!" Ruby was in a much better mood as she started walking down the path sans told her to. Eventually Ruby hit another forest but these forest's trees had much more snow on them and looked a bit healthier as well. "Maybe I took a wrong turn?" Ruby scratched the back of her head as she continued to walk. "But I never stepped off the path."

Ruby frowned when she came to a split in the path. The first split went off to Ruby's left and the other path went straight ahead. She figured sans meant for her to keep going straight, so Ruby walked straight ahead with a determined stride. But before she could leave the crossing Ruby was stopped by two separate entities.

The first was a strange monster that was a floating head wearing a super awesome hat made out of ice on its head. The monster gave a smirk when it saw Ruby look at its hat. "That's right human become so dazzled by my magnificent hat you will not realize that I am taking your soul!" Ice cap laughed a hearty laugh.

Unfortunately for Ice cap Ruby was much more focused on the other… acquaintance. **"Hi partner."** Chara smiled at Ruby with an unreadable smile over the ghost's face. Ruby also noted that Chara's body was what Ruby guessed was their 'original form'. **"How are you feeling?"** Chara's tone sounded concerned but Ruby was on guard.

"I… was actually wondering… how are you doing?" Ruby's words trailed off as a question and Chara shrugged in a manor very similar to sans. Meanwhile Ice cap just watched in confusion as the human ignored him and started talking to nothing.

" **Well since you asked I'm kinda angry."** Chara's expression changed to a more sinister smile and Ruby's heart rate started to rise but she managed to stand her ground. **"I found out the hard way that I can't just kill you and take your body like it should be!"** Ruby swore that Chara's words had a tone of glumness to them along with their casual killing tone.

"Well… does that mean that you'll leave me alone then?" Ruby tried for a hopeful tone and Chara narrowed their eyes. "I mean we can still hang out if you're up to it-"

" **OF COUSRE I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE!"** Ruby yipped in fear and took a step away from Chara as the ghost started flailing their arms like a 4 year-old. **"I'M A DEMON! YOU THINK I WOULD GIVE UP SO EASILY!"** Chara raised themselves to their full four feet of height. **"I'm going to take my revenge on all humanity and- OW!"** Chara's tantrum/speech was cut off by a sudden spark of pain like they just had a migraine.

"Are you ok Chara?" Ruby took a few steps closer towards the ghost but was stopped by Chara's glowing red eyes. "Right your fine." Ruby held up her hands and gave Chara some space.

" **Why do you even care!?"** Chara's question sounded like an accusation as they glared at Ruby. **"I literally, tore your heart from your body and broke your soul into… what are you wearing?"** Chara noticed Ruby's new jacket and smiled a bit at the red spots over it.

"Oh I got this from a skeleton named sans." Ruby patted the material and noticed what Chara was smiling at. "And these are ketchup stains!" Chara frowned, both because Ruby didn't kill something to take a jacket and because she said Skeleton.

" **A skeleton?"** Chara asked themself scratching the side of their head. **"Why does that sound familiar…"** Chara only got a headache in response. Ruby watched Chara rub their head for a few seconds and decided to cut in.

"I should actually be running into him and his brother just down this path… so maybe you can just ask them yourself?" Ruby tried again for a hopeful tone but was met with a red eyed rejection.

" **Even if I wanted to do what you wanted to do, you would have to say everything I'm saying for me."** Ruby tilted her head to the side like a puppy and Chara face palmed. **"I swear… Alright it's simple, only you can see me since I'm anchored to your body."**

The gears in Ruby's mind turned for a few seconds. "Wait what do people see when I'm talking to you like I am right now?"

" **They see a 10 year-old girl talking to the air."** Chara crossed their arms and snickered when they looked down the path. Ruby followed Chara's gaze and saw an exhausted Ice cap that had been trying to get Ruby's attention for the past minute. Now Ice cap had his head and hat in the snow.

"Oh no! Are you ok?!" Ruby started to run over towards Ice cap. But before she could do anything Ice cap busted out of the snow and the launched snow hit Ruby in the face.

"FINE IF YOU WANDA JUST IGNORE ME THEN I'LL FIND SOMEONE WHO APPRETIATES MY HAT!" Ice cap yelled to hide back his tears and her 'ran' off down the path. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Chara scoffed as they watched Ice cap run off crying. **"What a wimp right Ruby-"** Chara turned towards Ruby to see her finish scrape the snow off her face. But what caught Chara's attention was how fast Ruby's heart was now beating. **"What's wrong with you?"**

Ruby blinked for few seconds until she got the snow out of her eyes and then she answered Chara's question. "Huh?" Ruby had no idea what Chara was talking about.

Chara frowned with the distaste of a thousand unhappy people. **"Your heart is racing from, well nothing."** Chara's eyes narrowed and Ruby realized what the ghost was referring to. **"So what has you so panicked Partner?"** Chara then grinned as a thought crossed their mind. **"Unless my very presence is scaring you-"**

"Nope." Ruby quickly dismissed Chara's thoughts and tried to push her own fear and sadness back down inside herself. "Hey let's go see if Papyrus is up ahead alright?" Ruby tried for a half smile and started to continue down the snowy path.

" **You can't hide anything from me Ruby."** Chara tapped their forehead almost mockingly. **"If I wanted to, I could read your mind like a book."** Ruby's half smile wavered along with her stride and Chara smirked. **"Hey don't trip and mess up my body now."** Chara chuckled and Ruby made a fist.

"How many times do I have to say it?" Ruby turned and glared at Chara. "You can't have my body Chara! So... just go away!" Chara smirked as they fed off Ruby's rage.

" **And where should I go Ruby?"** Chara's tone was a mix of mocking and caring as they walked towards Ruby. **"I thought you pitied me…"** Chara stopped in front of Ruby cupped her cheek with their cold hand. **"I thought you… cared about me?"**

Ruby looked into Chara's eyes to try and tell if they were being truthful or not. "Chara… you can't just-" Ruby's words were cut off when they noticed that a smile just like Chara's was starting to form over her face. "NO!" Ruby slapped Chara's hand off her and the ghost cursed.

" **Dammit!"** Chara actually felt that slap, and it stung. **"But it worked…"** Chara looked at a now panicking Ruby. She moved a few feet away from Chara and had covered her now sinister smile with her cloak. Chara could practically feel Ruby's heart rate spike.

"No. No. No. No **.** No." Ruby's body shook as **that** voice started to come back. ' **Yo** u k **no** w **Chara** 's **r** ig **ht**. I **f** **we** wa **nt** t **o** li **ve** **the** n w **e** **hav** e t **o** **KILL** -' "NO!" It took all of Ruby's will power but she was able to gain control of her mouth and mind again. Ruby fell to one knee and tried to stop shaking.

" **Well almost."** Chara shrugged as they loomed over Ruby. **"But it's good to know that you still have some connection to that killer part of you."** Chara outstretched their still stinging hand. **"Now we can go… say hi to… Pap…eye-rust?"**

"It's Papyrus." Ruby managed to say as she got to her feet by herself. She was still shaking a little but she could manage.

" **Whatever, let's just go kill him."** Chara walked forward and Ruby quickly got out of Chara's way so they didn't touch her. Chara snickered then flinched as the pain in their arm started to grow like a bad itch. **"Shit!"**

Ruby watched Chara grip their arm like it just dislocated itself and despite her fear of the ghost she still couldn't watch it suffer. "Chara… why are you in pain?" Ruby was met with a sinister sneer.

" **See that's what I'm talking about!"** Chara forced themselves to ignore the pain as they turned towards Ruby. **"You're still concerned about me! DO YOU THINK THAT ACTING NICE TOWARDS ME WILL MAKE ME** _ **NICE**_ **OR SOMETHING!?"** Ruby didn't know how to answer Chara's question, but she should at least try.

"I choose a life where I get to help people." Ruby looked down at her shaking hands. "I want to bring each person to their happily ever after…" Ruby smiled he own kind smile. "So I guess it's not about making you nice, but making sure you're ready to put up with me asking everyone else I meet those same questions."

Just for that split second Chara understood that Ruby wouldn't give up. She would falter, fall, bleed, break and even die trying to help everyone. But she had the determination to try, and that pissed Chara off.

" **WHAT!?"** Chara glared back at the happy huntress. **"You think that I'll let you act all proud and happy…"** Chara smiled and the pain in their arm subsided. **"If I can't kill you then I'll just turn you into a crazed murderer."**

"Ok." Ruby smiled back at Chara who looked slightly shocked at that response. "And I guess my goal will to get you to spare someone, and well you know get out of the underground." Chara snickered at that. "And whoever finishes their goal get to decide how this relationship turns out."

" **Don't call it a relationship. But on everything else, it's a Deal."** Chara outstretched their hand so both of them could shake on it.

"Alright!" Ruby ran straight past Chara completely avoiding the obvious trap. "Then let's go meet Papyrus and convince him that I'm not a lamp!" Ruby ran down the forest path like a happy 10 year old.

Chara made a fist with their outstretched hand. At first they were angry that they weren't able to touch Ruby but then another thought crossed the Demon's mind that made them smile. **"We never did shake on it… wait what about a lamp?"**

* * *

 ** _And there we go. Like I said I wish I could have done more but I figured 6000 words, the introduction to the skeleton Brothers, and Ruby petting Lesser dog would be enough for April._  
**

 ** _Now onto that Neutral News, In short my account could be suspended for a few weeks. I've been contacted threw email that my account has some "bug" or something that could mess with the site or other accounts. Now I'm new to so I don't know if this is an anctual thing or not and the only thing prof I can find of any "Bugs" or "Glitches" is that my other story has been sending notices that there are new chapters while I know I haven't updated it. So to recap I may have my account pulled down and if your a follower to this story and your get an email that a new chapter has come out but it has the same title as a previous chapter just assume its a glitch or something._**

 ** _Anyway have a good rest of Spring and if you live in Michigan prepare for some warmer weather. P.G.P. out._**


	9. Chapter 8: One Pun Skeleton

_**MAN IT GOT WARM! Anyway hay there. I really wanted this Chapter to come out on the 22nd but... I kinda had to re-write a bit of it along with a little surprise that I'll talk about post Chapter. (But I mean it's already been out for a few days so yeah...) But over all I like how this Chapter turned out as I wanted a bit more light hearted-ness (Is that a word?) compared to some of my... more serious chapters. Anyway one thing before you read on.**_

 _ **I DON'T KNOW TOBY FOX! But I did get to meet most of the guys on achievement hunter a few weeks ago so yeah!**_

* * *

Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets and tapped his foot in the snow from sans' news. "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU." Papyrus muttered down to sans who just told him a human was coming this way.

"aw come on bro," sans winked up at Papyrus. "do you really think i would lie about this?"

"NO… BUT I THINK YOU COULD PRANK ME ABOUT THIS!" Papyrus didn't want to get his hopes up but now his hopes were up anyway, but at the same time he didn't want to be disappointed or made fun of. 'BUT MAYBE SANS ISN'T PRANKING ME…' Papyrus reasoned with himself. 'BUT I CAN'T LET HIM KNOW NOW OR I COULD LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT!'

Meanwhile sans scratched the side of his skull as he watched Papyrus's 'inner conflict'. "huh i guess ruby was right after all." sans glanced down the path that Ruby should be walking down any second now and then looked back up at his Brother. "pap." Papyrus was slightly lost in thought as he continually got his hopes up, then lowered them, and then raised them again.

"HMMMMMMMMM..." Papyrus scratched his chin as he continued to tap his foot in thought. Meanwhile sans heard some snow crunch off to his right. sans turned and saw Ruby walking down the path and right towards the two skeletons. She looked a little surprised that sans had somehow gotten farther down the path than her but Papyrus cut any question off.

"I'VE COME TO A DECISION!" Papyrus exclaimed and he turned towards sans completely missing Ruby who was now less than a yard away. "YOU WILL STAY HERE AND POINT AT THE HUMAN WHEN THEY… SANS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Sans was absently pointing at Ruby. "i'm pointing at the human." Papyrus followed sans' finger and his eyes twinkled with joy before he bolted in Ruby's direction. For a split second Ruby wanted to run but she stood her ground and she waited for Papyrus's attack.

But Papyrus ran right past Ruby and jumped on to a rock that was sticking out of the snow. "I'VE GOT YOU NOW HUMAN!" Papyrus cackled with glee at what he thought was his first successful human capture. "AND NOW I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE RESPECTED, REVERED AND COOL IN THE EYES OF EVERY MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND!"

Both Ruby and even sans where dumb struck by this. Meanwhile Chara snickered as they walked next to Ruby. **"You know if you think about it, a rock isn't that far off from a ruby."** Ruby frowned in Chara's direction but tried to just ignore them.

"uh… bro." sans spoke in an understandably awkward tone.

"YES I KNOW SANS, NOW THAT I HAVE CAPTURED A HUMAN AND WILL GAIN THE TOTAL COOLNESS OF THE UNDERGROUND I MIGHT BECOME TO COOL AND LOSE SIGHT OF MYSELF." Papyrus stood tall with his foot on the 'human'. "BUT KNOW THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE LIVED WITH THE TITLE OF COOLEST DUDE ALL MY LIFE SO THIS HUMAN WILL NOT AFFECT ME IN ANY WAY WHAT'S SO EVER!"

Ruby and Chara where a bit taken back by the amount of self-confidence Papyrus had; while sans would have blushed from embarrassment (if he had skin) from Papyrus's speech. "bro i seriously have to tell you something."

Papyrus grinned over in sans direction. "WHAT IS IT SANS?" His tone was that of a happy toddler.

"that's not a human, that's just a rock." sans' words made Papyrus go through so many emotions so quickly not even Ruby could keep up. After a few seconds of emotion shuffle Papyrus stopped on angry.

"I KNEW IT!" Papyrus stamped his foot in the snow and ran over to sans and completely ignoring Ruby again who made sure she wasn't standing behind anything just to make sure. "I KNEW YOU WERE PRANKING ME! WHY CAN'T YOU BE SERIOUS ABOUT MY PASSIONS AND STOP PLAYING PRANKS ON ME!?" Papyrus continued to stamp his foot and sans looked over at Ruby with a pleading smile.

" **Man you weren't kidding when you said he thought you were a lamp."** Chara shook their head in amazement and winked at Ruby. **"Well let's just kill him and move on."** Chara reached over and was about to touch Ruby but she vanished thanks to her semblance. **"Spoil sport."**

Ruby reappeared with her left foot on top of the rock and let her hood flap in the suddenly dramatic breeze. "Are you the one they call The Great Papyrus!?" Ruby used her 'queen of the world' voice which basically sounded like an ultra-over dramatic version of a Lindsay Jones impression. Papyrus looked over in Ruby's direction with a confused stare but he cleared his throat to speak.

"nope."

"SANS BE QUITE!" Papyrus sighed and turned towards the path in front of him. "OF COURSE I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS," Papyrus started to say in a similar dramatic voice but he instantly dropped it. "BUT IF YOU'D LIKE TO BE FRIENDS, UNKNOWN VOICE, THAN YOU CAN ALSO JUST CALL ME PAPYRUS."

Chara slapped their forehead. Ruby glanced over at sans who just shrugged. "I am not an Unknown voice Papyrus!" Ruby pointed directly at Papyrus in an attempt to get him to notice her as anything but a lamp.

"OH I KNOW YOU FROM SOMEWHERE?" Papyrus's voice was filled with excitement and Chara slammed their forehead into the ground. "IS IT YOU UNDYNE!? NO THAT VOICE SOUNDS TO YOUNG…" Papyrus ran a mental list of young female monsters he knew about until he found a match. "WAIT IS THAT YOU RED?!" Stars started to shine in Papyrus's eyes. "I THOUGHT YOU HATED HANGING OUT WITH ME!?"

Now Ruby was just offended that Papyrus wasn't noticing her. "No Papyrus, For you see I am not a monster." Papyrus gasped as 'the truth' started to become clear. "For you see… uh… the lamp in front of you is me. And I, am the human: Ruby Rose!" Ruby did a little pose on top of the rock and Papyrus gasped as he finally 'saw' Ruby.

"I- I- "Papyrus started turning in circles from that realization and continued to speak in lose thoughts. "THE HUMAN IS HERE! HUMANS CAN BECOME LAMPS! HUMANS AND MY BROTHER HAVE THE SAME TASTE IN CLOTHES! OHHHHHHH MYYYYYYY GOOOOODDDDDNNNNNEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

"hey bro?" sans asked in a calm manor and eventually Papyrus stopped spinning in excitement and looked at his brother. "you gonna say your… proclamation? that you practice… every morning-"

"SANS! OF COURSE, I WAS JUST GETTING TO THAT!" Papyrus then cleared his throat. "HUMAN! I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL NOT LET YOU PASS! BECAUSE I WILL DEFEAT YOU! THEN I WILL CAPTURE YOU! BEFORE LONG I WILL BECOME SUPER POPULAR! THEN I'D PROBABLY GAIN TO TOTAL RESPECT OF EVERYONE! NEXT I WILL BRING YOU TO THE CAPITAL! AND AT THAT POINT…" Papyrus's voice trailed off. "WELL I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT. BUT I WILL CAPTURE YOU HUMAN! SO CONTINUE ON IF YOU DARE!"

With his speech finished Papyrus ran off cackling. "NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH." Until he was out of sight.

" **Man how embarrassing can you make yourself?"** Ruby glanced behind her to see that Chara was now sitting cross-legged in the snow. **"Well know that I think about it-"** Ruby turned away from Chara and looked at sans who was walking towards her. **"Oh what you don't care about my opinions!"**

"well that wasn't exactly how i thought things would play out." sans gave his classic shrug. "but like i said before, don't worry about my brother." sans winked at Ruby. "i'll be keeping an, eye socket out for you."

Chara groaned and Ruby muffled out a laugh. "Thanks Sans, I was actually a little worried that I broke your brother when he started spinning around like that." This time sans chuckled out of embarrassment.

"yeah me to, but luckily he was able to, mussel on through it." sans winked again and Ruby laughed out loud.

" **Oh stop using him already and just move on!"** Chara bolted up and started walking past the two. Ruby was confused by why Chara said and followed the ghost with her eyes expecting an explanation. sans noticed this and looked in Chara's direction but didn't see anything other than snow and forest.

Ruby bit her lip when she remembered how weird it ended up for Ice Cap and decided this could lead to that same problem. "um... I'll see you around sans." Ruby walked past sans and with a wave she started following Chara down the same path Papyrus took. "Oh and thanks for the hood-" Ruby turned but sans suddenly wasn't there. "Huh?" Ruby stood there for a few seconds but decided she should continue forward.

" **About time."** Chara grumbled as Ruby walked past them. Ruby didn't really seem to pay any mind to the ghost's presence or bitterness. Ruby figured she must be getting used to it. **"So is this going to be that kind of relationship where you only pay attention to me when no one else is around?"**

"Maybe?" Ruby replied with a shrug and glanced down at the snow under her feet. "I don't really know what I can do to make you-"

" **Like you?"** Chara scoffed out the words like a curse and Ruby frowned in self-disappointment. **"Well to be fair if this situation was reversed, I would ignore you and your goody two shoe idealism."** Then Chara chuckled boldly. **"Of course how you are now…"** Chara scanned Ruby's 'innocent' eyes and remembered the blood red version of them. **"You'd probably be cheering me on if I was in control-"**

Chara didn't get finish their thought because a monster yipped in the two's direction. "Stop!"

Ruby came to a complete stop and looked up to see a dog type monster standing on his two hind legs so he was around 5 feet tall and held two short swords in his paws. He was wearing a tank top with a dog face on the front and leopard pants which didn't seem to appropriate for the cold weather.

Ruby continued to just stand their awkwardly as the monster known as Doggo narrowed his eyes. "Where did you go?!" Ruby just tilted her head in confusion and Chara's eyes widened when they realized that this dog monster couldn't see Ruby unless she was moving.

They grinned and turned to Ruby. **"You should go run up and pet him."** Ruby frowned in Chara's direction but realized that could actually work.

"Petting did work before with that other monster dog…" Ruby scratched her chin in thought, which allowed Doggo to see her. "But this dog could hate that-" Ruby was cut off when one of Doggo's blades slashed centimeters away from her head. "AHH!"

Ruby started to fall backwards and she almost fell on her back. But she reflexively rolled with the fall and was able to give herself some distance from Doggo. "I don't think I got the human…" Doggo narrowed his eyes again and waited for Ruby to make a move, who was now rapidly reconsidering her options.

Ruby's heart was beating a million beats per second but she was able to keep herself still. 'It's just like with Vegetoid,' Ruby thought back to her fight with the vegetable monster. 'He almost killed me to…' Ruby gulped and managed to look over at Doggo without moving.

Meanwhile Chara chuckled as they watched the fight from the side of the path. **"Well that was close one."** They said in a purposefully annoying tone that Ruby tried to ignore. **"Well if you need some help I'm-"**

Before Chara could finish, Ruby used her semblance and dashed at her full speed right at Doggo. The monster dog started to react when he saw the red blur dash towards him and he slashed forward but he was to slow. Doggo slashed at empty air as Ruby managed to get a single scratch behind Doggo's ear before she reappeared behind Doggo like a ninja-samurai.

Doggo's response to the pet was exactly the same as Lesser dog. "PET! I'VE BEEN PET!" Doggo started jumping around in joy, as any aura of hostility had completely disappeared. "PET! PAT! PET! POT! PET!" Doggo then ran off into the forest continuing to go on about petting.

Ruby sighed in relief and Chara grumbled out the rest of their sentence. **"-I'm free."** Ruby looked at Chara who had their arms crossed in indifference. **"But why should anyone care right Ruby?"** Chara then out stretched their arms in an agitated manor. **"I'll never be free right!?"**

Ruby didn't exactly understand what Chara was talking about, but she had an idea. "You never had a chance to live the life you wanted?" Ruby half asked, half replied. "You were locked up and that-"

" **STOP IT!"** Chara's yell stopped Ruby mid thought and for a second she looked just like Asriel after the first time Chara scared him. Chara growled at the memory but directed their agitated emotions towards Ruby. **"I'm sick of you going on rants about how you pity me."** Chara walked until they were less than a foot a part from Ruby. Chara snarled trying to scare the girl but Ruby forced herself to keep eye contact.

This girl was the only reason Chara couldn't finally roam free now. But it was always something: A prison cell, 3 over powered women, some barrier spell, their own soul, Asriel's... reluctance and now some puny little girl. It made Chara even angrier and Ruby could feel the ghost's anger thanks to whatever kind of link they shared.

"Ok Chara… then I'll make you a deal." Ruby said after a few seconds and Chara perked up at that.

" **Oh? You want to make a deal with a demon?"** Chara's attitude changed completely and they leaned closer to Ruby with their signature smile. **"Well let's hear it partner."**

Ruby was a bit worried of how close Chara was to her now but she steeled her will. "How about neither of us talk about changing the other into what they want the other to become?" It took Chara a few seconds to understand what Ruby meant thanks to her stupid wording and they narrowed their eyes.

" **So you mean if I stop talking about possessing you and turning you into a murderer- well a murderer that likes to kill, you'll stop talking about how much I should be a good little ghost?"** Chara didn't sound like they opposed the idea but more like they were curious about it.

Ruby was a little happy that the killer ghost was at least considering her deal. "Yep… so what do you say on…" Ruby tried to think up a good name for the deal. "Mutually assured silence?" Ruby pulled the words out of Chara's vocabulary.

Chara didn't like the name but shrugged in indifference. **"There's just one think though."** In an instant Chara grabbed the back of Ruby's head and pulled her forward so both girl and ghost's foreheads where touching. **"WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THIS!?"** Chara grinned as they watched the physical contact start to break Ruby just like it had before.

"We… w **e** … **we…** " Ruby's voice trailed off for a few seconds as her eyes started to change blood red. But luckily Ruby was able to ground herself. Ruby shoved Chara back and took a few steps back herself. Chara flinched at the sudden pain where Ruby just touched but they quickly held it in. " **We…** w **ill** j **us** t… a **void** **t** ouching each other."

Ruby put a hand over her right eye which was flashing between red and silver. At least her mouth wasn't locked in that twisted smile or her clothes bleached in **a** be **a** u **ti** ful whi **te** of **T** o **r** i **e** l's co **r** p **se** \- Ruby stopped those thoughts from continuing, and didn't start moving until she knew her thoughts was back to normal.

" **Fine."** Ruby looked up at Chara who was crossing their arms to try and hide the stinging pain in their chest. **"Neither of us won't force the other to switch alignments and we won't consciously touch each other."** Chara then winked at Ruby and posed in a relaxed provocative pose. **"Unless you change your mind~"**

"Alignments?" Ruby tilted her head completely missing Chara's attempt at seduction.

Chara groaned remembering that they were still dealing with a 10 year-old girl. **"It means if you're good or evil."** Ruby blinked as she processed that information.

"Oh ok… Well then it's a deal." Ruby smiled and Chara looked away in indifference but they nodded. "Well let's get going my Ghost friend." Ruby walked forward a few feet until she noticed Chara wasn't following her. "Um… Chara?" Ruby turned and saw Chara was looking at one of the snow covered trees with mild interest.

When Chara noticed that Ruby was looking at them the ghost shrugged. **"What? I haven't been here in ages."** Chara commented and started to walk down the path. Ruby was a bit surprised that Chara would want to take in the sites.

The two continued to walk through the forest at wildly different paces until Ruby decided that she would walk at Chara's calm pace. After a few minutes the forest ended rather abruptly and gave way to very steep cliffs and at the bottom was even more snowy forest.

"SO YOUR SURE THAT HUMAN ISN'T RELATED TO RED?" Ruby turned away from the cliff and saw Papyrus and sans standing a few meters down the continued forest path apparently having a debate on her origin. Between Ruby and the Skeleton brothers was a large rectangle of what looked like oddly colored ice.

"well i guess, i'm not 'sure-sure'," sans shrugged and noticed Ruby and waved at her with his kind smile. "but i'm sure that red would bring up if she's related to a human at some point right?" Papyrus narrowed his eyes at sans humor but he also realized that sans was looking at something and gasped when he saw Ruby.

"GASP!" Papyrus jumped back and gave himself a quick pep talk and then turned back towards Ruby with a gleam in his eye socket. "HUMAN WELCOME TO THE FIRST AND LAST PUZZLE YOU WILL EVER FACE! COWER IN FEAR AT THE DEADLY INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!" Papyrus then pulled out a small blue orb and held it in his hand like it was a trophy. "FOR YOU SEE WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE THIS ORB WILL DELIVER A HARDY ZAP!"

Ruby was shocked that this was Papyrus's first puzzle. A puzzle where you have to navigate an invisible maze wouldn't be that hard thanks to the foot prints she left in the snow, but the electric walls would really stop her cold. But she wouldn't give up.

"Alright Papyrus!" Ruby spoke in a similar manor as to how she had before to get Papyrus's attention. "Your maze may be-"

" **May seem,"** Chara said off to Ruby's left in what Ruby figured was a helping tone so Ruby added the line to her speech.

"Your maze may seem like a really hard puzzle-"

" **May seem to be an impossible obstacle,"**

"And an impossible obstacle to pass. But I will navigate it!" Ruby then held up her fist as a symbol to show her righteousness to the taller skeleton who was amazed by the sudden heroic speech. Then Ruby did a complete 180 and walked back towards the forest.

Papyrus was needless to say confused.

"WHAT!?" Papyrus yelled in confusion as Ruby ran over to one of the snow covered trees and she started to climb up it. "MY MAZE IS OVER HERE HUMAN! NOT IN SOME RANDOM TREE!" Papyrus started to stamp his foot in the snow.

"hey bro just give her a second." sans tried to calm Papyrus down but that didn't seem to work. "maybe you scared her off with your awesome puzzle."

"NO WAY SANS!" Papyrus returned to his own heroic pose with him holding the electric orb like it was a trophy. "DIDN'T YOU HEAR HER HEROIC SPEECH ON HOW SHE WOULD PASS MY PUZZLE!" Then Papyrus narrowed his eyes and scratched his chin. "ALTHOUGH SHE DID TAKE A LOT OF PAUSES IN IT… BUT NO ONE, EXCEPT I THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN TALK FOR TO LONG WITHOUT TAKING A BREAK. AFTER ALL SHE'S JUST HUMAN."

sans grinned up at his brother as a thought hit him. "so I guess you could say, her sentence was a bit… disjointed?" Papyrus's eyes would have gone blood shot if he had eyes. "or maybe her words just didn't have any-"

"SANS NO!"

"Yes!" Papyrus and sans stopped their conversation and turned just in time to see Ruby burst out of the tree she was in. Ruby did a spin in the air and landed on her feet with a long stick in her hand. After taking a second to brush off any snow that got on her while she was up in the tree, she pointed the stick at a confused Papyrus.

"A STICK?!" Papyrus scratched his skull with the electric orb.

"Yep, and with this stick I'll be able to feel where the walls are of your maze and not be hurt by the electricity!" Ruby explained as she started towards the invisible maze and Papyrus gasped in amazement.

"IT'S THE PERFECT COUNTER TO MY PUZZLE!" Papyrus yelled in shock and was then actually shocked when the orb of electricity activated when Ruby hit a wall of the maze. "GAZZZZZAAAAAZA!" Papyrus fell in a cooked heap.

"Oh no!" Ruby gasped in shock and Chara snickered behind her. "Are you ok?" Papyrus then jumped up like nothing happened.

"WELL THAT WAS…" Papyrus scratched his chin and trying to hide his embarrassment at one of his traps back firing on him. "BUT ANYWAY I WONDER WHY I WAS SHOCKED?"

Meanwhile sans figured out what went wrong. "well it's not that shocking when you think about it." sans winked at Ruby who found it a little weird that he would make a pun after his brother just got electrocuted. "but see she has to be holding the orb to be shocked by it."

"OH! OF COURSE!" Papyrus then ran perfectly through the invisible maze and stopped when he was right in front of Ruby. "HERE YOU GO HUMAN." Papyrus then tucked the small orb into Ruby's hood and ran back out of the maze to he was standing in the same spot as before. "NOW HUMAN! HOW WILL YOU GET PAST MY MAZE-"

Ruby calmly followed Papyrus's foot prints in the snow to the exit and stopped right in front of him. "Here you can have this back." Ruby japed one end of her stick in the snow so she could get the orb out of her hood while Papyrus stood there with his jaw dropped.

"HUMAN." Papyrus started to speak before Ruby could even fish out the orb. "YOU HAVE OUT SMARTED MY TRAP NOT JUST ONCE BUT TWICE NOW, SO I WILL GIVE YOU THAT ORB AS AN EXCLUSIVE PAPYRUS MERCHANDISE!"

Chara had walked up so they were standing next to Ruby and gave Papyrus the blankest stare Ruby thought was possible. **"But if someone touches the maze wouldn't you get zapped-"**

"NOW I MUST PREPARE MORE PUZZLES TO CAPTURE YOU!" Papyrus then turned and ran off with childish glee. "NYHE!" Ruby stood their awkwardly holding the electric orb and Chara just huffed.

"Well… at least he's happy?" Ruby tried for her own happy tone. Her words were mostly directed towards Chara but sans took it that she was talking to him.

"yeah, seeing him happy always makes me grin." sans winked and Chara mumbled their disapproval. "by the way, that was really clever with the whole stick thing you tried."

"Oh thanks sans," Ruby blushed slightly at the praise and Chara scoffed. "It's just a shame I didn't get to use it." Ruby pulled the stick out of the snow and mentally noted to at least keep it with her as a walking stick.

"well it still profs that you can get yourself out of some stick-y situations." sans once again winked at Ruby and Chara rolled their eyes. "how's the new cloth fitting you by the way?" Ruby smiled back at her skeleton friend.

"Its great thanks for-" Ruby was cut off by Chara groaning. Ruby tried not to look at the ghost so as to not repeat something like last time but she got the message. "Um… anyway I think I should see what puzzle your brother has planned for me next."

Ruby started to awkwardly walk away from sans expecting him to just sort of stand their like last time. Which was why Ruby was surprised when sans started walking next to her. "well at least let me show you one of my favorite spots first." sans said offhandedly. "it's just a few steps down this way."

"Oh… Sure." Ruby nodded and the she followed sans down the cliff infested path. "By the way, why are there so many cliffs around here?" Ruby carefully looked down one of the cliffs when they walked over a small wooden bridge.

"well…" sans chuckled as his imagination started to make up a sarcastic scenario. "see there was this epic battle between the king of the monsters, the queen of all warriors and the… king.. of um…" sans sort of lost track when he noticed how invested Ruby was in the made up story. "the… uh… sharks…?" Ruby suddenly had stars in her eyes.

Chara shook their head in disappointment. **"Wow. At least when I was telling you history in a fantasy manor it was real!"** Ruby cast her own disapproving aura towards at Chara. **"What?! Don't tell me you didn't… well actually you hated my story as soon as I got to the massacre part."** Ruby tried to ignore Chara and turned her focus back on sans.

"Hey it's ok if you can't remember the rest of the story sans." Ruby patted sans on the shoulder and the skeleton had a mental weight lifted off his shoulders now that he didn't need to make up the rest of the story in a way that made sense. As that was some work sans defiantly didn't need. "I'll just take it that you monsters just like the high road."

sans chuckled at that. "well for my brother there's only the papyrus road." sans' tone reminded Ruby of Yang again. In fact the whole taking her to see something was something Yang had been doing a lot nowadays... for some reason.

" **That's what I'm talking about."** Chara said bitterly a few feet behind the two. Ruby spared a glance back at the frowning Ghost. **"You're just hanging around this guy because he has certain qualities of Yang. When you know that I,"** Chara's normal form changed to that of PJ Yang again. **"Can match her completely thanks to the bond we share."**

Ruby quickly turned away from Chara's Yang impersonation. She knew Chara was right that sans was funny and so far seemed to watching out for her just like Yang would but she still felt a ping of guilt for some reason. At first Ruby thought it was just because she was scared of what would happen if her family and new friend found out about Chara when… or if she ever got out of the underground.

But then more dark and depressing thoughts started to bleed in.

'M **a** yb **e** i **t** 's b **e** c **a** u **se** I'm **a** kill **er** **a** nd Y **a** n **g** would **t** h **r** ow m **e** in j **a** il onc **e** I t **e** ll th **e** m wh **a** t h **a** pp **e** n **e** d. **'** Ruby's genocidal voice chimed. Chara blinked in surprise, they weren't doing anything to create this voice but they could hear it just as clearly as Ruby could. It seemed like Ruby's genocidal side had its own… voice. 'O **r** m **a** ybe **s** om **e** on **e** will t **r** y **a** nd u **se** m **e** **as a** w **ea** pon, ju **st** lik **e** how d **a** d **a** lw **a** ys s **a** id **t** h **e** y u **se** d mom **as a** -' The voice was cut off as a top bit of Ruby's stick snapped off from her tight and trembling grip.

sans took notice of Ruby's sudden snap and even noticed a small tear roll down her cheek. He expected her to burst into tears or at least stop walking. But she kept walking and sans chose to not do anything to comfort her. '…jeez i really am a bad clinician.' Just after that thought the two reached the sight sans was talking about earlier.

"whelp here it is." Ruby blinked away another tear and looked up at the area around her. In a wide open snowy field sat a large snow ball at one end of a windy icy track. At the end of the track was a small hole that reminded Chara or a golf course. "the snowdin mini golf course."

"Cool…?" sans chuckled at Ruby's unintentional pun and Ruby started to smile to. "Anyway where do we get the golf balls?" Ruby looked around but didn't see a vendor or anything like that nearby. sans continued to chuckle as he walked over towards the large snowball.

"we don't need those." sans tapped the huge snow ball that was about his size. "see this thing shrinks as you push it down the trail." Ruby nodded in understanding while Chara just looked out over an edge of a nearby cliff trying to look awesome while at the same time being evil.

After Ruby glance over to see Chara just trying to show disinterest in the game she turned back towards sans. "Alright, but how do we play with only one snow ball?" Ruby walked over towards the start of the icy path. Sans scratched his chin almost like he hadn't thought this part of the plan all the way through.

After about a minute of thinking sans snapped his fingers. "you can use the orb my bro gave you as your own snow/golf ball." Ruby pulled the electric orb out of her hood and dashed over to the hole to see if the orb would even fit.

"Ok." Ruby stood up and dashed around so she was next to sans. "Let's play some Snowdin Golf!" Ruby yelled in a determined tone. "Alright! I'm gonna get a hole in one!" Sans scratched where his ear would be as Ruby continued to yell things right next to him.

 **"SHUT IT AND JUST PLAY IT THEN!"** Chara yelled both physically and in Ruby's mind. Ruby stopped and looked at sans who glanced over at Ruby. Ruby coughed and motioned for sans to go first.

"thanks." sans walked up towards the large snow ball and Ruby wondered if it was fair that the skeleton had to use a huge snowball while she had a small orb. "now, _watch the ball_." Sans muttered as he lightly pushed the ball with one now slightly glowing blue hand.

Ruby and even Chara who was glancing over their shoulder looked on in amazement. The snowball started rolling and reducing in size but that wasn't the amazing part. The ball was turning and rolling like it had a mind of its own down the curves of the course. In actuality sans was making the ball move but Ruby and Chara were to occupied with the sentient snowball to notice.

Eventually it reached the end of the course but it was still too big to go in (Thanks to sans' cheating) so sans made the ball circle around the hole like a basketball on the hoop until it was small enough and fell in. When the snow ball fell in a light blue golf flag rose out of the hole. "whelp," sans turned towards Ruby. "you're up."

Ruby looked absently at sans like he just told her to win a spelling bee. **"He cheated... somehow."** Chara muttered as they glared at the smiling skeleton. Then the ghost grinned and they turned towards Ruby. **"So let's cheat to."**

Ruby was about to say something but realized that sans was right there and she decided against it. "Um… ok sans." Ruby put the orb in the same spot that the giant snow ball was and pulled out her large stick preparing to use it as a golf club.

But before she could swing Chara teleported in front of Ruby and blocking her view of the course. **"So I've come up with a plan so we can get the ball in less than-"** Chara was about to explain their plan but stopped when they remembered who they were talking to. **"Right… your goody to shoes…"** Chara was about to say forget it but when they looked at sans' dumb sleepy face and something in them made them burn with anger.

Ruby could feel this anger and was mostly confused by it. Up to this point Ruby figured that Chara just generally hated stuff but this was more like unknown anger. Again she was about to ask what was Chara's deal but realized that sans was watching, her stare absently at Chara or from his point of view, nothing but ice.

"Alright… I got this." Ruby breathed in and hit the orb as hard as she could.

In truth Ruby had never played mini-golf before. She saw normal golf on TV once during one of her mom's 'peaceful hours' and never even learned the rules other than make it go a far as possible on your first swing. Needless to say Ruby's reaction to almost seeing the orb launch of a nearby cliff almost broke Ruby's heart.

But out of no were Chara teleported and for a millisecond they transformed into their fake Ruby body. Ruby thought that Chara was about to try and attack them again but instead they spiked the flying orb like a volley ball straight into the hole breaking the light blue golf flag in two. Effectively making a hole in one.

sans had expected Ruby to take a minute or two and figured that he could take a quick nap while he waited. But he was jolted awake when he heard Ruby yell. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" Thinking she found out he fell asleep sans bolted awake.

"i- i'm here." sans looked over at Ruby flailing her arms while she looked at a nearby cliff. "um…" sans didn't really understand what Ruby was yelling at but he figured out that Ruby must have gotten the orb in. "hey congrats rube's..." sans tried to congratulate Ruby but she seemed to preoccupied yelling at nothing. 'heh what a strange kid... now let's see what color you-' sans' thoughts stopped abruptly when he looked over at the flag.

The reason sans wanted to play this game with Ruby was for two reasons. The first was to try and make sure Ruby was having fun in the underground. But the other was to see if Ruby's soul was actually cracked or if it would heal.

See the 'golf game' was actually designed to show a sick of hurting monster what was wrong with them as monster's heath comes entirely from if their soul is healthy or not. For a normal monster that dropped anything they recently touched or carried in the hole a grey-white flag would appear. For a sick or wounded monster a slightly chipped grey-white flag would appear. But Ruby's flag was… chimeric.

The overall flag was a blood red which meant that Ruby had a human soul, no surprise. And it was even slightly chipped which sans had expected from what he saw from Ruby's soul earlier. But winding around the flag were thick Black wires and an even more terrifying characteristic was that at about the center of the flag a chunk of it looked like it was melting.

"So… sans…" sans redirected his attention towards Ruby who was pushing her fingers together like she just stole out of the cookie jar. "I did manage to get a hole in one… But…I…" sans snapped his fingers and teleported the warped flag away before Ruby (and subsequently Chara) could see it before he spoke.

"so were tied," sans patted Ruby on the head and winked at her. "and we'll have to play against each other again." Ruby sighed in relief that sans didn't call out the fact that she cheated.

 **"Well technically I cheated."** Chara said now back in their normal body and a bit happier now that they had done something active. **"But I did use a version of your body to cheat, so I guess-"**

"Well we can go again right now!" Ruby half yelled to shut up Chara, which they didn't look to happy about. But sans shook his head.

"so remember that conversation a few trees back about how I should have some puzzles set up for you to." sans scratched the back of his head and Ruby nodded. "well… i'm asking this as a buddy, but can you wait a bit so i can get a puzzle ready?"

" **Nope."**

"Sure thing sans." Ruby gave a thumps up as she twirled her stick in her other hand trying to look cool. "I'll just hang out around here for a bit."

"hay thanks." sans started to walk off. "just give me 5 minutes." Once sans was out of Ruby's line of sight he teleported to his basement/lab/memory lane. "has been awhile." sans said to the old room as he walked over to a table that Ruby's flag rested on along with several other papers written in Wingdings.

Sans picked up the flag careful to make sure that he didn't scrape himself on the black wires. After looking it over for a few seconds sans tore out the melting bit of the pole and threw the rest to the side. The short Skeleton looked at the melting red in his hand with fascination and recognition as he remembered holding something like this before... Millions of Million life times ago.

"this… if this is a piece of ruby's soul… i could bring him back…" sans looked at a strange pod like device that took up about a quarter of the room. sans smile widened as his normally relaxed and lazy mind started planning out worked out an idea. _"If I use Ruby's soul I could bring him back."_ sans started to walk towards the large pod, he raised his fingers ready to teleport Ruby into the pod and turn it on even though he knew it would just burn up her soul. _"I must bring him back-"_ But he stopped when he heard a crack under his foot.

He looked down and saw that he had shattered the top part of Ruby's flag. "My request is, if a human ever walks through these doors... will you watch over them?" A mental image of Ruby, Papyrus and sans all having fun together flashed through sans' head as his promise repeated in his mind. "Please?" They were so happy…

sans dropped the melting red in his hand. "no!" sans took a step away from the pod. "she's just a sweet kid… i can't just…" Then sans' eyes wondered down the rest of the flag and saw the black wires that dug into the representation of Ruby's 'sweet' soul.

"but those wires…" sans had no idea what they could mean. Maybe Ruby had some form of illness that affected her soul. Maybe they were representations of whatever shattered her soul to begin with. "or maybe she isn't so sweet…"

sans was at a crossroads as he stood in the forgotten lab but eventually he came to a decision. "if… she starts to act like… _that Yellow soul Human…_ then i'll… i'll break my promise." Sans teleported up to the kitchen and grabbed a random word puzzle off the counter and teleported behind Papyrus who was waiting for Ruby to arrive.

"SANS THERE YOU ARE!" Papyrus turned towards his shorter brother who smiled back up at him like he always did. "WHERE IS YOUR PUZZLE?! THE HUMAN COULD BE HERE ANY MINUTE!" Papyrus then looked in confusion as sans walked a few feet down the path and placed the word puzzle in the snow and winked at his brother.

"don't worry bro, this will set 'em straight."

* * *

 _ **There's a reason I wanted this to go up on memorial day...**_

 _ **Anyway hope you enjoyed the Chapter. this one took awhile only because I kept on rewriting the jokes a lot as I felt like I could just work more Papyrus in there. And of course more hints towards Gaster and the over all plot he has with Ruby's soul.**_

 _ **But... on the note of Gaster's plan... I wrote I knew story. And yes this is totally self promotion and While I'm here check out my - nah I'm just kidding. But seriously I did write a spin off to this story called 'Stay Patient', I know totally original name. But I wanted a name to be a clear sister to this story in some way other than me just saying it.**_

 _ **Anyway the plot is pretty simple, basically it focuses on Weiss after she failed at a Schnee-con. No that's not the name of the event but I with it was. I wrote it as the 10,000 view land mark for this story. Which by the way that is awesome! Thanks so much to you guys for reading this little story. And for people who will ask, I will do another special if I know Stay patient is well received, and if that special gets enough followers I'll continue that to. But if you like this story and you want to see Weiss get attacked by the kind of sharks go read it. Nah I'm just kidding, Oh there is one more thing about the story I want to point out. Only one Undertale character is in the entire story... I feel like I shouldn't have needed to say that but I know someone is going to be angry at me for not warning them of it. So there!**_

 _ **Anyway leave a Review on your thoughts of the chapter and as a closing thought/mystery look at the letters that Ruby's genocidal voice has bolded before it disappears... it spells Gaster.**_

 _P_ _ **.**_ G _ **.**_ **P** _ **. out for May and have a happy summer! unless you don't live in the eastern hemisphere... darn.**_


	10. Chapter 9: One Puzzler Among Them All

_**Well better late then... well no. I honestly didn't want this chapter to take 3 freaking months to finish, but I found a way. Despite the long time I had to work on it I'm actually on the fence with how this chapter turned out. But I guess that's up for you readers to decide. So enough chit chat lets get to the Story.  
**_

* * *

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!" Papyrus complained to sans as the taller skeleton finished setting up his latest puzzle. sans shrugged as Papyrus put the last tile on the 6 by 8 floor structure.

"i think ruby was ok with it." sans responded with a relaxed blink. Papyrus finished setting the last tile and turned his disapproving stare towards sans. "what?" sans awkwardly glanced at the snow.

* * *

Ruby absently looked down at the word search. **"This is sans' puzzle!?"** Chara complained as sans and Papyrus stood a few feet away waiting (and panicking a little) to see how Ruby would react. Ruby glanced at Chara with a tinny smile that made them only angrier. **"Oh your thinking the same thing! At least Papyrus created an invisible and electric maze, this has literally zero effort put into it."**

As Chara continued to complain Ruby looked over the word search for a few seconds. Both brothers watched Ruby with either nail biting stares or blank shrugs. A few seconds later Ruby looked up. "Here you go sans." Ruby walked up to sans and passed the paper to the shorter skeleton with a cheery smile.

Papyrus' jaw dropped when he realized that sans' puzzle was just a random junior jumble and that Ruby didn't even mark the paper. Chara meanwhile glared at sans out of spite for his laziness but then they felt something off about the cheery skeleton but they couldn't tell what.

* * *

"SHE DIDN'T EVEN CIRCLE ANY WORDS! SO SHE CLEARLY DIDN'T LIKE IT!" Papyrus continued to voice his frustration at sans. Who just shrugged.

"well she didn't have a marker or anything." Papyrus' eye sockets widened in surprise.

"THEN YOU PROVIDE THE HUMAN A MARKER SANS!" Papyrus lectured his bro on proper puzzle educate. "IT IS NOT FAIR TO THE SOLVER IF THEY ARE NOT GIVEN ALL THE PROPER RESOURCES BEFORE STARTING A PUZZLE!"

"huh, i guess that makes sense." sans turned neutral smile changed to his pre-quip smile. "i guess it's not that big of a puzzler why you're the best puzzler in the underground."

"SANS!"

"so i should just get a marker for my next puzzle?" sans was surprised when Papyrus rested his gloved hand on top of his head.

"THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY BROTHER." Papyrus clenched his other fist in a determined manor. "IT IS CLEAR THAT MY PUZZLES AMAZING QUALITY ARE THE ONLY PUZZLES CAPABLE OF MATCHING THE HUMAN'S SHARP AND INTELLIGENT MIND!" sans' smile widened at Papyrus' happy mood.

'that's… good.' sans again internally kicked himself for thinking of hurting Ruby. 'papyrus deserves to be happy like this,' But sans couldn't get the thought of Ruby's soul out of his head. 'even if her soul could be a match for… _Him_ , she deserves to be happy to.'

"THERE IS SOMETHING THAT BOTHERS ME SANS." sans turned away from his internal struggle and looked up at Papyrus who was now crossing his arms and tapping his foot as he talked. "FROM THIS PUZZLE THERE ARE 2 OF MY PUZZLES FROM HERE TO YOUR PUZZLE," Papyrus then turned around and continued his monologue. "AND 2 MORE PUZZLES FROM HERE TO SNOWDIN."

sans glanced in the direction of Snowdin then back to his brother while he contemplated the word puzzle. "well in total that's 5 more puzzles then i had ready today." Papyrus gave an 'are you serious bro' look. "hey i'm never serious, but um… continue with your point… if there was one, i'm not really digging up what your plan-ting." Sans winked at the word ting just to emphasize the joke.

"WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS…" Papyrus' voice trailed off and his arms fell to his side. "I'M RUNNING OUT OF PUZZLES… AND I DON'T THINK ANY OF THEM WILL BE ABLE TO STOP…" Papyrus' voice started to trail off as he scratched his chin.

"uh… bro?"

"SANS WHAT WAS THE HUMAN'S NAME, AGAIN?" sans snorted and almost fell over. "SHE ONLY SAID IT ONCE SANS! GIVE ME A BREAK!" sans waved his hand in an attempt to recover from Papyrus.

"ruby." sans eventually got out. Papyrus was about to say something but then sans rattled off another point. "you even confused her with a rock which is-"

"ENOUGH!" Papyrus shook his arms over his head for a few seconds. Eventually he calmed down and coughed into his fist. "MY POINT IS, I DON'T THINK EVEN MY PUZZLES CAN STOP RUBY!" Papyrus' tone worried sans a bit.

"well… is that a bad thing bro?" sans tried for a reassuring tone. "i'm sure you got-" sans words were cut off when Papyrus suddenly perked up.

"NYH HA!" Papyrus cried, pointed across his tiled puzzle and then turned to face the interface for his puzzle. sans followed his brother's point and saw Ruby standing on the other side of the puzzle. Ruby was looking over the puzzle with a bit of confusion. sans noted that Ruby now kept her 2 and a half long stick on her belt like a sword.

" **Does he expect you to bust a move or something?"** Chara said sarcastically as they stopped next to Ruby. Ruby somehow managed to give Chara a 'give him a chance' vibe without even needed to face her ghost. **"You know the fact that you aren't going to talk to me when others are around is fine, but don't use that tone with me!"**

Ruby smiled, both from Chara's now humorous ramblings and because she saw sans and Papyrus. "Hi you guys." Ruby waved patiently waiting for Papyrus to start up his puzzle. sans returned the wave.

"sup."

"HUMAN!" Papyrus bolted back up to his full height. "JUST AS I PREDICTED YOU PASSED MY OTHER PUZZLES WITH LITTLE RESISTANCE!" Papyrus then glanced at sans and then back at Ruby. A single sweat ran down his skull. "BUT… JUST TO BE SURE, THOSE NOTES I LEFT FOR YOU DID EXPLAIN WHAT YOU SHOULD DO RIGHT?"

Ruby inhaled.

* * *

Chara looked over the note the Papyrus left in the snow while Ruby made drawings in the snow a few feet away. Chara was surprised that Ruby asked them to read the note for her. But it wasn't that hard to figure out why. **"You're scared of the snow because it resembles monster dust."** Their tone was surprisingly neutral.

Ruby glanced in Chara's direction. "And I thought you knew my every thought." Ruby's voice had a hint of sarcasm as she walked over to the note and used her stick to move the snow that covered it.

" **That's not exactly how our connection works…"** Chara crossed their arms as Ruby read. **"I mean yeah I can 'hear you' read that note right now. But I can't just know everything about you in an instant."** Ruby sighed and turned to a smiling Chara. **"I like to take time,** _ **knowing**_ **people."**

"What about all those people you killed?" Ruby swished the snow off her stick and put it on her belt. "Or me, You were pretty quick to try and kill me." Chara shrugged.

" **Well, ok I'm pretty reactive. But I thought I already knew everything about you that was worth learning at that point."** Ruby raised an eye brow as she walked over to the puzzle and started to solve it. **"Your mom inspired you to be a good person, she died, and being an idiot you want to follow in her footsteps. If you think about it me killing you would have actually helping you see her aga-"**

Ruby slammed her foot into the snow and turned towards Chara. **"** YOU KNOW NO **T** HIN **G** **A** BOU **T** MY MOM **S** O **S** HU **T** UP **!"** Ruby glared at Chara who gave back their own murderous stare. Ruby's eyes sparked between silver and red for a few seconds until she forced her eyes to close. "My… my mom wouldn't want to see me like this."

" **Fine."** Chara abruptly ended the conversation and turned away from Ruby. Ruby meanwhile left Chara to solve the puzzle. **'Now what was wrong with that skeleton?'** Something about sans had felt off about him when Ruby passed him his 'puzzle'. But they couldn't put their finger on it. **"Well I'm sure I'll see him again... nah that's probably a given."**

"Chara?" Ruby had solved the rather easy spike puzzle and was ready to move on.

" **You done crying yet?"** Chara remarked as they turned towards Ruby who blinked some remaining tears out of her eyes.

"I wasn't crying…" Ruby sniffed. Chara groaned and rolled their eyes. "But you crossed a line Chara." Chara glanced at Ruby now standing at her full height. "You can hurt me, Bu **t!...** Please, don't talk about my mom."

Chara smiled back at Ruby. **"Don't tempt me."** The Ghost turned and then continued down the path with that smile. **'and by the looks of your tone I won't have to~'**

* * *

"It… was pretty enlightening, but I understood what to do." Ruby reassured Papyrus.

"WELL THAT'S GOOD." Papyrus started to turn towards sans to make sure he was noting down what to do for his future puzzles. But sans was already holding a small note pad and pencil like he was a reporter.

sans winked. "don't worry bro, just work your magic." Papyrus smiled then clenched his fist and turned towards ruby with determination.

"WELL HUMAN LET THIS PUZZLE BE YOUR GREATEST PUZZLE YET." Ruby stood at the ready and took a step back when the tiles started to flash different colors. "GET READY TO FACE MY MULTI COLOR TILE PUZZLE!"

" **I wonder what he named the other two puzzles."** Chara said offhandedly as they redirected their attention from the puzzle towards sans. **"Probably something better then, 'Some random word search I found this morning'."**

Ruby was tempted to tell Chara to shut it again but Papyrus cut her off. "ALL RIGHT HUMAN, THE RULES OF THIS PUZZLE ARE SIMPLE, AS I WILL EXPLAIN THEM TO YOU RIGHT NOW!" Ruby, Chara and sans all stood ready for Papyrus' explanation.

 ** _ONE 2 PARAGRAPH LONG EXPLANATION LATER OF COMPLEX RULES LATER!_**

Ruby's brain was doing loops in her head by the time Papyrus finished his explanation of his current puzzle. Chara was blinking a lot thanks to the constant flashing lights of the tiles. sans looked like he had written everything Papyrus had said in his note book.

"SEE I TOLD YOU IT WAS EASY!" Papyrus chimed with a little hop of victory. "NOW RUBY! ARE YOU READY!?"

Ruby managed to shake herself out of the brain tangle and looked at Chara for something. **"I'm tempted to help you. Not!"** Chara walked over the puzzle and stood on the other side in a clear taunt.

Ruby almost slumped her shoulders but a paper airplane landed at her feet. Ruby gave the paper airplane a weird look. "SANS DON'T THROW THINGS AT RUBY!" Ruby looked up at sans who was now shrugging at his older brother.

"i just wanted to make sure she had all the rules on an easy to access paper." sans put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "didn't a great skeleton remind me that everyone needs to make sure all information is given to the puzzle solver so they can solve the puzzle."

Papyrus gave sans a confused look. "WELL I DID SAY THAT. BUT WHY DID YO THROW A PAPER AIRPLANE AT RUBY THEN!?"

"because i wrote the rules on that airplane." sans said matter-of-factly. Ruby silently thanked sans for his infinite kindness.

Papyrus had stars in his eyes. "WHY YES HE DID! GOOD WORK SANS!" With Papyrus' positive attitude towards it Ruby figured it was ok for her to read it. So Ruby picked up the paper airplane and unfolded it. The following words were a bit jagged but Ruby could make it out.

Pink is ok to step on

You can't step on Red

Don't step on anything else or you lose

Get to the other side to win

"SO ARE YOU READY?!" Papyrus stood next to the controls ready to flip a switch that stopped the flashing colors.

"I'm ready!" Ruby clenched sans' note and readied for what she guessed would be the craziest game of hopscotch she ever played. Papyrus flipped the switch.

A single path of pink tiles lined up in front of Ruby and the rest of the tiles where red. Everyone stared at the puzzle's unbelievable probability. Even Flowey had a deep epiphany on the concepts of gambling in his hiding spot. Ruby looked up just in time to see Papyrus start to spin and then spin away like Vegetoid.

" **Well… I know what we're doing when we get to the capital!"** Ruby pointed their blank glaze towards Chara as they walked down the pink path. **"Oh right you don't know what gambling is…"** Chara puffed as they turned towards sans who had a similar stare as Ruby's.

"I think I broke your brother." Ruby could still see Papyrus spinning down the path.

"nah…" Ruby glanced towards sans as he continued to stare at what she assumed was nothing. sans winked at Flowey, who realized his hiding spot was compromised and he disappeared into the earth. After that sans turned towards Ruby. "i think he just didn't expect, that, to happen."

"Neither did I!" Ruby ran a hand threw her hair and shook her head. "I mean the electric maze seemed pretty solid, and the floor puzzle was nice because it reminded me of the puzzles in the ruins, but..."

"but this one was just too based on luck?" Ruby nodded with a reserved smile, because she was mentally yelling at Chara to stop 'examining' sans without his consent. "anyway, i actually have a gift for you."

Ruby tilted her head to the side in confusion while question marks rose out of her head. sans chuckled as he pulled out a small bag out of his hoodie's pocket. Ruby's confused look continued but Chara narrowed their eyes as sans started tossing the bag like he was juggling with one hand. He actually made it look cool.

"so i know we didn't put bets or anything on that golf match," sans started to explain himself a bit awkwardly. "but i figured that you could use some monster cash in case you get hungry or something."

Ruby's eyes widened in understanding. "Wait, your giving me money?!" sans winked.

"well i'm not just going to give you money for nothing." Chara blinked in surprise and then blushed when their mind rushed to the most 'naughty' result of a male offering money to a female. "i'll trade you one piece of paper for this bag."

Chara fell on their face from that request. Meanwhile more question marks popped out of Ruby's head most of them related to why Chara had blushed. "Well that seems like a weird trade, I don't even-" Then Ruby snickered and held up the cheat sheet sans made her. "Here you go sir."

sans juggle tossed the bag towards Ruby who caught it with her free hand. "thank you ms. ruby." Ruby chuckled as she placed the paper in sans' now empty hand. "my hand writings still ok right? i think that was the first time i've written in…" sans stared off into space as if writing was an old sport he hadn't played since preschool.

"I could read every word, and you summed up everything really well." Chara, who mentally read what the note said from Ruby's short term memory, gave Ruby a slow eyebrow raise. 'What?' Ruby mentally asked.

" **Nothing…"** Chara whistled in what Ruby would say an innocent manor. But it was Chara, so something had to be up. **"Now that is stereotyping… well if there was more than one of me."** Chara witted while still looking over sans like he was art and they would have to write a report on him later.

"well that's… uh you ok ruby?" Ruby blinked as her attention was drawn back to 'the canvas'. "you sort of lost focus on reality." Ruby blushed from embarrassment.

"Oh- Um sorry I just-"

"ah don't worry about it," sans waved it off as he put his note in his hoodie pocket. "I often daze out of reality too." With that sans yawned (without opening his jaw, or even changing his smile), closed his eye sockets and fell asleep right there.

" **Wow! What a lazy bones-"** Chara instantly hated themselves for saying that. **"AH HIS STUPID JOKES ARE GETTING TO ME!"** Chara continued to flail around in anger while Ruby tested to see if sans had actually fallen asleep.

After several subtle attempts to try and wake up sans didn't seem to work Ruby huffed. "Well… I guess… I'll see you up ahead sans." Ruby figured that skeletons weren't actually affected by weather by the way Papyrus' outfit was designed, so sans should be ok. "Just don't freeze." Ruby patted sans on the top of his skull and walked down the path.

" **You should have tried to kiss him to wake him up."** Chara said offhandedly as they appeared next to Ruby.

Ruby frowned as she put a hand up to her lips. "I've licked a flap poll in winter before." Ruby retorted. "It stung!" Chara was not amused of pitied.

" **Well anyway, I've figured out what's wrong with sans."** Chara stretched and Ruby gave them a confused stare just like they had with sans. **"He's feeling guilty towards you. I don't really know why but it's defiantly suspicious."**

"Or," Ruby held up a hand. "He could just have pity for a little girl lost in a strange land." Chara frowned upon Ruby's idealism.

" **No. No monster, human, faunus or C.O.T.S. does anything without a reason or expecting to get something in return."** Chara spoke in a bitter tone, although they knew from experience that those 'somethings' weren't always bad. Chara crossed their arms and grumbled at their self-contradiction.

Ruby was a bit confused as to why cots would want anything or why Chara would spell them out to begin with. But before Ruby could really ask she spotted Papyrus doing his best Chara impression next to what Ruby could only describe as a gigantic ice skate park.

"Um hey Papyrus." Ruby tried for an upbeat tone. Papyrus straightened up and turned towards Ruby with his normal Papyrus attitude.

"HELLO RUBY…" Papyrus' normal attitude started to fade as he started to poke his fingers together. "I UNFORTUNATELY HAVE SOME BAD NEWS." Before Ruby could ask what was wrong Papyrus held out a small piece of paper. "JUST READ THIS AND YOU WILL KNOW MY PAIN!"

Ruby took the paper and both her and Chara looked it over.

Dear Papyrus, Monster(s) who it may concern,

I regret to inform you that your 'enhancements' to the Snowdin skate park have been removed because of potential dangers towards monsters who will pass through the park as it is the only path that connects the Snowdin woods and Snowdin.

Sincerely, A caring substitute teacher.

Chara was not amused by the 'tone' of the letter. But Ruby was just confused as to what the letter could be referring to by enhancements. "Um… what does it mean by-"

"THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR NEXT PUZZLE!" Papyrus stomped his foot in anger, he then coughed into his glove to show some professionalism. "BUT IF ITS FROM A CARING SUBSTITUTE TEACHER I CAN'T COMPLAIN; I MEAN THOSE ARE SUPER RARE NOW A DAYS." Papyrus slumped over at his incompetence. "BUT I GUESS NO ONE REALLY LIKES ICE PUZZLES TO BEGIN WITH…"

Ruby walked over to Papyrus. "Well this isn't your last puzzle is it?" Papyrus turned towards Ruby's reassuring smile with his own depressing one.

"…NO…I HAVE ONE LAST ONE…"

"Well just go all out on this last one." Ruby jumped to pat Papyrus on his armor. "And I'll just play around this super boring park while you 'improve' that last puzzle." Ruby saw that spark of child-like determination return in Papyrus' eye socket.

"YOU'RE RIGHT RUBY!" Papyrus returned back to his full height as his scarf flapped in the wind. "I WILL CREATE THE ULTIMATE PUZZLE TO CATCH YOU THANKS TO YOUR KIND WORDS!"

"Well what are friends for." Ruby said offhandedly but as soon as those words left her mouth Papyrus literally froze in place. Ruby could tell because Papyrus' scarf had frozen in place as well. "Um… Papyrus. You ok?"

"WE ARE FRIENDS?" Before Ruby could say anything Papyrus picked the little girl up. "YOU WOULD CALL ME YOUR FRIEND!" Meanwhile Ruby started to panic as Papyrus started to toss her up in the air.

Chara chuckled as Ruby flailed her arms in the air like a panicked chicken. "Yes! But you should really get to your last puzzle!" Chara then busted out laughing when Ruby crashed into the snow when Papyrus didn't catch her.

"OF COURSE!" Papyrus ran straight onto the ice park and using one of the ice high pikes rocketed himself off into the direction of him last puzzle. "SEE YOU SOON!"

Chara smiled as Ruby got back to her feet and quickly brush off all the snow on her. When she finished Chara did their best skater gangster impression by leaning next to a half pike. **"Your own words are your undoing."** Ruby was not amused by Chara's tone or attitude.

* * *

sans stood at the edge of a cliff looking at a piece of paper like it was an essay he was supposed to proof read. Meanwhile Papyrus had set up all the remaining parts of his puzzles to activate on a bridge that had connected the cliff sans was currently standing on and another cliff that Ruby reach anytime time now.

"SANS SHE SHOULD BE HERE ANYTIME NOW!" Papyrus was jittering from a mix of nervous-ness, anticipation and frustration towards sans for not actually saying anything the entire time he had been setting up the puzzle. "SANS STOP READING AND SAY SOMETHING!"

sans put the paper back in his hoodie pocket and looked up at Papyrus. "strawberry soup." sans made a finger gun and winked.

Papyrus started to stomp his foot into the snow. "SAY SOMETHING RELEVANT TO THE CONVERSATION!"

Sans thought about life for a few seconds. "well i say it's a real puzzler why your-"

"GOSH DARN IT SANS! I MEANT-"

"your puzzle's going to one for the record book." sans gave a thumps up and Papyrus let out a sigh.

"THANK YOU SANS." Papyrus responded with a cheery smile. 'NOW WHY COULDN'T HE HAVE JUST SAID THAT EARLIER?' Papyrus glanced towards sans as he pulled out the same paper and began studding it again. Trying his best to be stealthy, Papyrus leaned over sans so he could see what his brother was reading. "WHAT IS THAT?"

"it's the paper i threw at ruby so she knew what all those tiles meant." sans passed the paper to Papyrus. "i was going for as few of word as possible." After looking over the 4 lines Papyrus nodded in agreement.

"WELL THEN… GOOD JOB, ALTHOUGH YOUR HAND WRITING COULD BE A BIT LESS JAGGED." sans coughed which Papyrus misinterpreted for him to keep going. "SANS I'M JUST TRYING TO GIVE YOU SOME POSITIVE FEEDBACK!" Papyrus faced his brother. "DON'T MAKE ME RAMBLE WHEN RUBY-" Papyrus stopped when he saw sans pointing across the bridge.

On the other cliff was a very disheveled Ruby. One side of her hair was sticking up, the jacket sans loaned her was covered in large dog print and her legs were wobbling like she had just stopped carrying something. "Hey guys." Ruby waved weekly.

"wow."

"OH NO! RUBY WHAT HAPPENED!?" Papyrus' worried tone made Ruby smile. "UM? WHY ARE YOU SMILING?" Ruby chuckled weekly as she rose back to her full height.

"Ah I just too excited to pet a dog and they got a bit too playful." Ruby scratched the back of her head as she continued to chuckle. "Luckily another dog helped me out and we just played fetch instead." Both Papyrus and sans gave Ruby a quizzical look.

" **Yeah, the real luck was how you still have that stick."** Chara scoffed at Ruby's summarization of what happened.

What had actually happened was that Greater dog had been playing with Lesser dog and both dog monsters tried to play with Ruby. Only Greater dog started to play rag doll with Ruby but Lesser dog stopped the bigger dog and explained (in dog language) that Ruby didn't like that. Then the three just played fetch.

"so I guess you could say that those dogs made you their treat." sans winked at the punch line and Papyrus started to stomp his foot.

"SANS WE DON'T HAVE TIME!" Papyrus changed his pose to his 'heroic' one as he continued. "BECAUSE IT IS TIME FOR MY MOST ELABORATE PUZZLE EVER!" Papyrus flipped a switch on a small control panel next to him and a loud rumbling sound started to echo through Snowdin woods. "BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"

Suddenly three things started to swing over the bridge like pendulums. The first object was a large fail on a chain, the second object was a large spear and the final object was a tiny puppy that yipped in excitement when it saw Ruby.

" **That's not all."** Chara pointed down and Ruby looked down in shock as three more objects under the bridge as well. In order they were: A flamethrower, another spear, and a large cannon. Ruby's eyes widened. **"There's more."** Chara pointed to Papyrus.

"BUT THERE'S EVEN MORE RUBY!" Papyrus said right on queue. Suddenly all the planks that made up the bridge started to flash just like the tile puzzle. "I'VE REPLACED ALL THE PLANKS OF THIS BRIDGE OUT OF MY MULTI COLOR TILE PUZZLE!"

"Um… ok." Ruby had droughts if she could complete the puzzle before but now she wasn't so sure.

"AND JUST BECAUSE I WANT THIS PUZZLE TO HAVE A BIT MORE PAPYRUS PIZAZZ," Papyrus pressed a button and plate of spaghetti appeared next to Ruby from out of a snowpuff next to her. "NOW MY ULTIMATE PUZZLE IS COMPLETE!"

As Papyrus continued to laugh at his own success sans, Ruby and Chara all looked at the thing in front of them with mild confusion. "Wow Papyrus you really went all out on this didn't you?" Ruby stepped forward so her next step would be on the bridge. "But I'll face it."

'YES,' Papyrus thought as he reached to hit the last button and stop the flashing tiles. 'THIS PUZZLE IS COMBINATION OF ALL OF MY GREATEST CREATIONS. IT IS UNSTOPPABLE, IT IS IMPENETRABLE, ITS…' Papyrus continued to stare at the button and everyone started to get confused as to why Papyrus hadn't pushed it yet. 'ITS NOT FAIR.'

"hey bro, you ok?" Papyrus turned and looked at sans. Sans didn't recognize the expression on Papyrus' face. "papyrus?"

"I'M SORRY…" Papyrus hit the reset button on the panel and all parts of the puzzle returned to place. Ruby gave a silent wave of sadness towards the dangling dog. It appreciated the gesture. "RUBY." Ruby redirected her attention towards Papyrus. "I NOW REALIZE THAT THIS PUZZLE ISN'T A PUZZLE EVEN I COULD COMPLETE." With that Papyrus turned and walked off.

 **"Wow."** Chara raised their eye brows in surprise. **"I think he just had an epiphany."** Ruby thought that meant she did something wrong and made Papyrus sad, or even worse mad. So she bolted over the bridge using her semblance to try and stop Papyrus.

sans reached out and grabbed Ruby's arm with insanely fast reflexes. _"Ruby."_ At first Ruby thought sans was made at her to and a look of self-disappointment started to spread over her face. But she was surprised when sans started to fix her messed up hair. "those dogs did a real number on you didn't they?"

Chara narrowed there eyes as they watched the following interaction.

Ruby's gloomy expression started to fade when she saw sans' smile. "There… nice, but a bit too active for me." Ruby glanced down the path but couldn't see Papyrus anymore. Her shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry sans."

sans gave his equivalent of raising his eyebrow. "why are you apologizing?" sans realized that he was still holding onto Ruby's arm let go so the girl could face him comfortably.

"I think I made Papyrus mad… or at sad… or… or maybe both?" Ruby's conflicted face looked back between sans and the path. Chara sighed as they really didn't like it when Ruby got like this. But to both Ruby and Chara's surprise sans started to laugh. "What's funny?"

"i think, no i know Papyrus is just conflicted. kind of like you are right now." sans silently chuckled at the irony of what he just said. "listen, the way things are going right now… you might have to fight my brother."

" **Oh yes!"** Chara chuckled as a familiar hole began to form in Ruby's stomach.

"of course my bro, could just be conflicted about being friends with you." sans quickly mentioned trying to elevate the look of terror on Ruby's face. It kind of worked. Ruby looked at sans with an attempt of a reassuring smile.

But everyone knew she was faking it.

"Thanks sans… and don't worry if Papyrus…," Ruby looked down at her shaking hands. "I won't hurt him." Ruby started to walk down the path but sans stopped her again.

"just so he doesn't hurt you to… let me give you some advice." Chara scoffed in disappointment but Ruby looked at sans with an expecting glance. "my bro's special attack… well let's just say it puts him on center stage." Sans then gave his classic wink like he was telling a joke that she would understand at a later date.

Ruby didn't really understand what sans meant but she appreciated it. She turned and hugged sans which surprised the skeleton but he patted her back in response. Chara would have vomited from the kitty romance that was in going on. But then a thought hit them when Ruby broke the hug.

" **Hey so remember when I said that sans is acting weird around you?"** Ruby ignored Chara because she really didn't want to talk to them right now. **"Oh fine, I'll tell you later."** Chara mumbled as Ruby redirected her attention to reality.

"Well, I'll see you sans." sans nodded and Ruby walked off in the same direction Papyrus had. After a few more steps Ruby was surprised to find that she was able to keep her head up and not collapse into a pit of sadness or something. 'I… I can do this.'

Ruby had managed to while completely humiliate herself in front of Icecap, be completely over run by several dogs, and get through all of a tricky skeleton's puzzles. But she hadn't had to resort to violence, and she wouldn't with Papyrus or any other monster either. "I can do this!"

Just then Ruby saw Chara materialize a few feet in front of them and it slightly broke the super self confident Boost Ruby was giving herself. **"Well here we are."** They were looking at a large Billboard. **"One step closer to madness."** Ruby gave Chara her, 'shut up' glance as they turned to look at the Billboard.

It read, WELCOME TO SNOWDIN

Ruby sighed. "One road closer to home, Oh Chara." Ruby turned towards Chara who was giving their own version of 'shut up' look.

" **I know, I won't touch you while you're fighting Papyrus."** Chara said with their fingers crossed out of Ruby's view. **"And you know that with your luck you're going to have to fight-"**

"What did you want to say about sans?" Chara was surprised that Ruby cut them off with a simple question. "You figured something out right? I want to make sure I didn't hurt sans or something to." Chara scoffed at Ruby's attempt to keep up her goody to shoe stick.

But Chara was to tempted with how Ruby would react if she heard their thought **. "Ok~ well after thinking about it I think sans, is in love with you."** Ruby looked at Chara for a solid minute as her brain processed and then she fell over from shock. **"Ok… not what I wanted to happen but whatever."**

* * *

 _ **sansXRuby confirmed? Nah. Just thought it would be a fun way to end the chapter. But I hope you all liked that chapter and next time its one of the most memorable and comedic fights in Undertale. Next Chapter its Ruby vs Papyrus and the fight... shouldn't take 3 months to upload.**_

 _ **Anyway time to get some stuff that people have either PMed (is that a word) or said in reviews.**_

 _ **Alright, so first lets go over Red. So a few people question what impact Red will have on the story and honestly I just found the character interesting and I thought it would be an interesting character to show off in parallel to Ruby.**_

 _ **Next lets go over how strong monsters are compared to humans. So I'm a believer in the whole there are no power levels but its just comes down to each persons skills and abilities. But if we want to talk in general, if a single monster and a single human walked into a room and both of them entered a death battle with only their fists the human would win. But 'certain' monsters in the Underground are more than a match for hunters.**_

 _ **Finally... lore, Ok I admitted from the first chapter that I have a hard time understanding lore. However I have since understood I can not tell a story like this one unless I expand on the existing lore. So yeah I hope the expansions aren't negative to the over all story or in general.**_

 _ **And with that I'll see y'all next time, and please leave a review on your thought of the story so far. P.G.P. out.**_


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